Thinking Outside the Box
by China Dolly
Summary: Quatre always thought he would have a hard time getting through High school. That was until he made some friends and his world was turned upside down. Sometimes he wondered if he hadn’t accidently stepped in on a soap opera instead of a classroom. ON HOLD
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Thinking outside the box  
**Warnings: **For now a bit of cursing and Shounen ai  
**Disclaimer: **Gundam Wing isn't mine. I'm just borrowing the characters to have some fun writing a story about them.

'…' Talk  
"…" Thoughts

**Chapter 01**

_Ooh trapped in a box  
__Watch the world as it flocks  
__To lifes paradox  
__And were all trapped in a box  
_Trapped in a box – No Doubt

Quatre Raberba Winner sat on a bench, watching the basketball-team practice in front of him, completely satisfied. He had been watching for a rough ten minutes and still no-one had bothered him yet with the question "Do you want to play?". But playing wasn't the reason Quatre came to practice. As always, Quatre came to practice and waited patiently for Duo to finish.

It wasn't that he disliked the sport that made him sometimes wish he was somewhere else. On the contrary, he loved it. He loved to watch and knew every technique by name. Also, Quatre was a great tactician. He had often told Duo how he thought was the best tactics, defence and attack, and Duo would listen in awe as Quatre would talk about the sport he loved.

No, no-one would deny that Quatre loved the sport. Many, although, questioned why he did not play it if he liked it so much. It was a pity there had been only a few people who ever dared to ask that question out loud. Because even though almost everyone from the junior-year knew basketball was a delicate matter when it came to Quatre, the people who did ask, became the few friends Quatre had. Duo was one of them.

The reason Quatre let Duo drag him to whatever came to his mind was because he cherished the few friends he had. And Duo was on top of that list.

Many did not understand why Quatre took a liking to the loud, spontaneous, bigmouthed Duo Maxwell. They were complete opposites. Secretly, it was because of the fact that Duo was so un-like him that Quatre liked hanging out with Duo. It was like he discovered a new world every time he went out with Duo.

Quatre had been locked inside his house with private tutors for years. It had taken him months of pleading to finally let his parents agree that enrolling their youngest child in a public high school was indeed better for his social life. He had to promise though, not to indulge himself in any form of sports. So, as one of the few people in school, Quatre chose music and nothing else. Music because he loved that and sports… well, he wasn't really allowed to play. There was only one other person in the entire school who had chosen only music, but he didn't really count. Because Wufei Chang, the other person and another friend of Quatre's, trained in his fathers martial arts school every morning.

It wasn't as if Quatre was unpopular in spite of that though. Many people respected his knowledge of sports. For some weird reason, it was only a great part of the basketball-team that seemed to dislike him. Quatre had never thought of it as that much of a problem, he would never be able to play anyway.

Because Quatre had a weak heart, always had one. He remembered well how he hated it when he was younger. Whenever he wanted to play outside he couldn't. At the age of ten he had burst into tears because he couldn't play outside with the other kids. Now-a-days though, he was okay with it. He just had to make sure not to get too excited over things. His heart would beat real fast. It happened once, he had fainted then. So he tried to do things calmly most of the time. But sometimes he did wonder if Duo with all his enthusiastic behaviour would someday be the death of him.

Little did Quatre know, of all persons in the world, it would be the least expected person to make his heart race. And for once, it wouldn't be Duo.

* * *

Quatre had been staring at the ground of the basket-ball court for over an hour now. He wasn't in that a great of a mood. He wanted to go, now. Heero had been glaring at him again and he couldn't stand it any longer.

'Can we go, Duo?' Quatre asked his friend as Duo walked towards him. 'If you let me get out of these dirty clothes first.' Duo said as he tapped Quatre's nose with a grin. Quatre took a look at his friend and shrugged. 'Sure, okay. Don't want to walk through town with you smelling like that.'

'I don't stink.' Duo pouted as he walked away. 'You wish.' Quatre huffed. When Duo was out of sight Quatre slumped down onto the chair. It would at least take another fifteen minutes before Duo would be done with re-dressing.

'You know, we could print a sticker with your name on it and stick it onto the chair.' Quatre looked up and saw a girl with long light brown hair, dressed in a cheerleading outfit, standing in front of him. 'Hi Relena.' He smiled and the girl smiled back. 'Hi.'

'What were you saying? I didn't quite catch it.'

'I said,' she grinned 'that this chair particularly belongs to you. You sit here an awful lot, Quatre.'

'Well, what else am I supposed to do?'

'Participate.' He suddenly heard someone, someone definitely not Relena, answer. He heard Relena sigh softly and he looked up. In front of him stood the basketballs team star-player, Heero Yuy. He was also Relena's boyfriend and very protective of whom she hung around with. 'Hello Heero.' Quatre said but Heero just snorted. 'Everyone says you're so great. That you know everything about basketball. You watch almost every game and have a tactics for everything. If you love the game so much, then why don't you play?'

Quatre shuddered under Heero's glare. He didn't understand why Relena always told him she loved Heero's eyes. No matter how hard he tried, with that glare, he just couldn't see it. But back to the matter. Heero was glaring at him and Quatre had no idea how to respond to the guy without angering him or raising questions.

Heero's glare was burning a hole in his forehead now. If he didn't come up with an answer soon Quatre was afraid the heat of the glare would fry his brains. "Now that would be an ugly sight," he thought and fought the urge to laugh.

'Well?' Heero pressed and Quatre sighed. He hoped he could drag this on until Duo came back. It made him wonder why the rest of the team was still on the field. 'You're slow, is that it? Because you certainly are with answering questions.' Heero sneered. But Quatre just smiled at him, glad Heero talked a lot when he was angry, and said: 'If you say so.'

For a moment Heero looked at him as if he was insane and he could hear the soft murmurs from the other players. 'I see, you like to play around, don't you?' Heero asked. Quatre had to take in a deep breath of air, exhaling slowly. He always did that in moments like these, when his heart had a big chance of beating faster than it should.

'What, no smart-ass answers now? You really -'

'Heero, don't you think you should give the kid a break?' Someone suddenly interrupted the tirade. Quatre frowned for a moment before his eyes fell upon Trowa. Trowa was another basketball player and, if Quatre believed what everybody else said, a good friend of Heero.

Quatre was grateful Trowa had stepped in, although he was confused why. It wasn't as if they were on the friendliest terms with each other. "He probably stepped in because he was afraid Heero'd do something that would get him sent to the headmaster's office," Quatre thought. He felt a bit stupid for believing that a friend of Heero would actually care, but he was grateful none-the-less.

'Shut up, Trowa.' Heero said with a glare and Quatre saw Trowa sigh. He also noticed that Relena was nowhere in sight. "I wonder where she is," he thought.

'Heero, do you really want to do something stupid that will get you sent to the headmaster's office?' Trowa suddenly asked and now it was Heero's turn to sigh. He took a few steps closer to Quatre and with a death-glare said: 'You should be really glad. If it weren't for him I would've -'

'What the Hell is going on here?!' Quatre smiled. He immediately understood where Relena had gone to. She went to get Duo, who was now very pissed off. Quatre turned his head towards his friend and saw him wave at him as soon as their eyes caught. A bit retained Quatre gave a small wave back.

'Relena?' Heero suddenly said as he noticed his girlfriend at Duo's side. 'What are you doing?'

'Hmph,' Relena snorted. 'Quatre's my friend and I get sick of you always pestering him, so I called in the cavalry.' She said, smirking at the end. It's in moments like these you see Heero's rubbing off on her. 'And it's good you did.' Duo complimented as he walked over to Quatre.

'I told you guys, he likes to watch. Perhaps I should've phrased it different though.' Duo said and after a moment of considering things he continued. 'Leave him alone.' He said on a voice unusually cold for Duo. Heero looked baffled, Trowa uneasy and Relena smiled. Quatre didn't want to think of the reactions of the rest of the team to Duo's outburst.

So instead of finding out, he laid a hand on Duo's arm in a calming gesture. 'Shall we go? You know it'll take hours to find yourself some good clothes and we don't want to arrive in town only to find the shops closed.'

'Always the tactician, eh Quatre.' Duo smirked as he was pulled away from the field by Quatre. Quatre just laughed.

* * *

Three days later Quatre was watching basketball-training again. He noticed that the team avoided looking at him. Secretly he felt proud of Duo and what he did for him.

Quatre smiled as Duo jumped up and dunked a ball. He heard a soft squeal on his right and he turned his head with a raised eyebrow. Hilde Schbeiker, the last of his four friends, was grinning. 'What?' She exclaimed as she looked at Quatre. 'He just looks so good when he does that!' And she was right. Duo certainly was a sight to behold when dunking a ball. Quatre snickered though as Hilde turned back to the field. 'Don't let Wufei hear you say that. He'll chase you around school with that katana of his.' Quatre thought back to that one time Wufei threatened to cut him into little pieces with a shudder. That certainly wasn't worth a repeat.

'Yeah, only too bad that my only three male friends are gay.' She sighed dramatically. And again Quatre looked at her with a raised eyebrow. 'Since when am I gay?'

'Since I said so, Darling.' Hilde said, blinking with her eyes and smiling sweetly. Quatre just snorted. 'Hey, Quatre.' Hilde started. But Quatre just turned back to the field and watched the practice with mild interest.

'Quatre?' Hilde questioned again. When he didn't answer Hilde poked his cheek and said: 'You are ignoring me. Okay, I get it. I'm sorry. You're not gay.'

'Good.' Quatre said and turned to her, smiling. 'That's what I wanted to hear.'

'But I never said you weren't bisexual.' She teased and Quatre let out a laugh, startling more than a few people. 'I can live with that.'

At the end of training Hilde had gone to her own cheerleading training. 'Q-man!' Duo shouted as he run towards the bleachers. 'Yes Duo?' Quatre asked sweetly, even though there was a grin on his face. But suddenly the unbelievable happened. Duo tripped and fell face-down onto the ground. Quatre looked at him for a moment and then burst out laughing. Duo stood up and looked at his friend who seemed to have a laughing fit at expense of Duo.

'You're laughing at me!' Duo said as he pouted, and Quatre barely managed to nod. 'How dare you!' Duo scolded and stalked towards Quatre, an evil glint in his eyes. Quatre raised his hands in defence, knowing what Duo would do. But Duo took no notice, pushed Quatre's hands away and started to tickle him.

If possible, Quatre started laughing harder and harder until he felt he couldn't stop anymore. He was gasping and his face was flushed. 'D-Duo! My heart.' He yelled jokingly. But immediately Duo stopped and looked at Quatre with worry in his eyes. 'You okay, Quatre?'

'Y-yes Duo. I'm fine. I was just joking.'

'Well,' Duo started and all his teammates were surprised at his seriousness. Duo looked backwards to the field for a moment with slight embarrassment. He had totally forgotten Quatre and himself weren't the only ones on the field. After training the guys stayed for half an hour, most of the time, to just talk. He sighed. Well, whatever, they just had to witness this. He turned back to Quatre, embarrassment gone, and scolded: 'Don't joke around like that, okay? Sheesh, you almost gave _me _a heart attack.'

'Man Duo, he was just joking. Don't need to chew his head off.' Zechs, a basketball player with long platinum hair, suddenly said. His blue eyes studied Duo and he frowned. "Sheesh, what was it with this kid and his temper?" Other teammates nodded their agreement but Duo just shook his head. 'Don't stick your nose into business you don't know shit about.'

'No need to get aggressive Duo.' Zechs said with a glare. 'No, Duo's right.' Quatre quickly interfered and everybody looked at him. Quatre looked up at Duo and smiled apologetic. 'I'm sorry, that was out of line. I should know better than to joke about such a thing.'

'Okay, well, it's all right. Just don't scare me like that anymore.' Duo said while he patted Quatre's head. To say everybody else was surprised would be an understatement.

For the next few days Duo was very wary when he was around Quatre. He would hold back with his jokes and didn't torture Quatre with tickling. On the third day Quatre got tired of it. He did the only thing that could possibly make Duo stop his fretting over him. He talked to Hilde about it.

He had pulled her out of training to talk to her. 'He must really be going hard on you otherwise you'd never ask me to talk with you about it during my training.'

'Yeah, I know. Sorry about that by the way.' Quatre said, embarrassed. 'Nah, don't worry about it. I kind of understand. He's like a mother fussing over you sometimes.' Hilde said and Quatre grinned. He couldn't agree more with her. 'So, what's wrong?'

'I don't know! He's even worse than usual.' Quatre exclaimed and Hilde sighed. 'It's probably because of the incident with that Heero Yuy.' She said and Quatre frowned. 'That might be it, but what should I do about it? I tried to talk to him about it, but he wouldn't listen.'

'We'll just have to go with plan Two then.' Hilde smirked and Quatre gulped. The girl could be really scary when she wanted to be. 'Uh, Hilde? What's plan Two?' He asked a bit wary and Hilde smiled. 'It's very simple. We're going to get Wufei to stop Duo's annoying behaviour.'

* * *

'But Wufei, please!' Quatre pleaded. But Wufei just shook his head. 'No. And don't you think that perhaps he has a good reason for worrying?' Wufei said and turned back to what he was doing. 'But Wufei,' Quatre said as he leaned onto the desk, looking Wufei in the eye. 'He's really exaggerating it this time. He doesn't even make jokes around me anymore!'

'That's very unlike Duo.' Wufei muttered and immediately Hilde took her chance. 'Exactly. And that's why you need to tell him. He won't listen to us and you're his boyfriend. He will listen to you.' She said and heard Quatre softly mutter: 'Hopefully.' Hilde sighed. Why did she put up with these guys anyway?

'Just this once. I won't make a habit of it.' Wufei finally gave in and Hilde cheered softly. 'Come on then, let's go!'

It had taken them half an hour before they found Duo. He was sitting on a bench with a few of his teammates. Without saying anything Wufei walked towards the bench. 'Wufei!' Duo cried out in surprise as he noticed the boy. But Wufei just grabbed his arm and started dragging Duo away. 'We need to talk.' He said.

Quatre walked to a nearby bench and sat down. 'What are you doing?' Hilde asked and Quatre grinned. 'Waiting. I want to see Duo's face when he gets back.' He said. 'Well, then sit and wait for a long time, because I'm sure that,' she pointed to where Wufei and Duo had disappeared, 'it isn't going to be a normal conversation.' Quatre blushed. Hilde was right, though. When alone, the two of them were like rabbits. 'Somehow I think I'll never get used to it.' He muttered and Hilde laughed.

'Don't you worry Quatre. You're not the only one.' She said and Quatre frowned. 'Yeah, although I'd never have thought Relena the kind of girl to blush when those two make out.'

'Me neither, but she is. But Quatre honey, I'm off again. Training.' Hilde said and with a wave she was off again.

Quatre watched her go and sighed. Sometimes he really didn't understand where she got all her energy from. He slumped down onto the bench and played with a strand of his hair that had fallen in front of his eyes.

'Man,' he muttered to himself. 'If only those two didn't date. It would make life so much easier.'

'You don't like the idea of them dating?' Someone suddenly interrupted his conversation with himself. He looked up and saw Zechs and Trowa, who had been sitting on the bench with Duo, standing near him. 'O no! That's not it.' He said a bit embarrassed someone had actually witnessed him talking to himself. 'It's just that… well, they get distracted so quickly when it's just the two of them.' He said with a slight blush. 'But then again, who would Duo listen to?' He added for himself. Frankly, he had no idea why Trowa and Zechs, well only Zechs actually, even bothered talking to him. Never had they spoken, why now all of a sudden? He looked up at the two guys and saw both of them watching him intently. He looked down and muttered: 'Honestly, we've never talked before. So what do you want?'

'Duo talks a lot about you and you're at our training at least three times a week. We just wanted to know what kind of person you are.' Trowa spoke. To Quatre's surprise he actually had a soft and gentle voice. But Quatre just rolled his eyes. "Great, they talk to me because I'm too mysterious for them. Does that now officially dub me as pathetic?" He sighed softly. 'Wanted to get to know me how, exactly?' Quatre muttered.

He found it strange that people who had never before bothered to talk to him were suddenly interested in him. 'He talks a lot about you. We always see you at training but you never talk to any of us. So we were curious how you are as a person.' Zechs explained. Quatre figured that would be the only explanation he would get if he didn't ask any further. 'Is this because of my fight with Heero Yuy? Because I'm one of the few he can't tell not to hang around with his girlfriend?'

There was silence after that. Trowa and Zechs both looked uncomfortable by the question and Quatre sighed heavily. 'I knew it.' He whispered softly before standing up. He started walking to the direction his two friends had disappeared off earlier. When he reached a corner he turned around. 'I don't need pity, you know. If you want to really get to know me, the least you could ask is what my hobbies are.' And with that he disappeared around the corner.

* * *

'Quatre.' Puppy-dog eyes looked at him. 'I'm sorry.' Duo looked to away, a bit ashamed, and said softly: 'Sometimes I get carried away. I worry about you and I do stupid things.'

'It's okay. It's just annoying we almost _always _have to ask Wufei to talk to you about it.'

'Yeah, sorry about that too.' Duo said as he grinned sheepishly. 'I'll treat you both to a milkshake.'

'Hmph, as if that will make things any better.' Wufei snorted but Quatre grinned at him. 'Didn't you know, Wufei? It always does the trick. Milkshakes always make things better. No matter what the situation is.' And all Wufei did was stare and wonder why he had ever befriended such a lunatic.

'Quatre, Duo!' As soon as the three friends entered a small café a bell jingled and a warm voice greeted them. 'Catherine, hi.' Quatre replied and Duo shouted a greeting of his own to the girl behind the counter. 'You upset him again?' She asked Duo with a wink. 'Yes, sorry.' Duo waved his hand as if he could just make the problem disappear with that.

'Don't worry.' Catherine laughed. 'I'll cure it. What flavours?'

'Strawberry.'

'Banana.'

'And you, sweetie?' Catherine asked Wufei with a wink. Wufei, being very bad at handling when being flirted with just blushed and looked down. 'Vanilla. And hands off.' Duo said, laying an arm possessively around Wufei's shoulder. Catherine looked puzzled for a moment before she grinned. 'So, I finally get to meet your boyfriend, then? All right, vanilla it is. I'll be right back at your table with your order.'

As the three boys sat down Wufei asked: 'Where do you know her from?' Quatre looked at Wufei, a bit surprised, then at Duo and then back to Wufei. 'You're serious? You've been dating for three months and Duo's never taken you here before?'

'Apparently not, no. Why is that so strange?'

'Because they're regulars here. Regulars who I haven't seen for a while.' Another girl walked to their table with a grin on her face. 'Well, I've seen Quatre quite a lot lately, but you've reappeared from your fall-of-the-earth.' She said to Duo was grinning a bit apologetic. 'Well, having a boyfriend does take up some time.'

'Well, you could've taken him here.' Dorothy said and frowned. 'Why didn't you?' Quatre asked. 'Well, I-uh…'

'Are you ashamed of me?' Wufei asked softly, looking down. 'W-what?' Duo looked surprised at his boyfriend. Where, so out of the blue, did that question come from?

'You are, aren't you?' Wufei stated with a pained voice. 'N-no! That's not -' But Wufei just stood up and walked away. 'Wufei!' Duo whined. He stood up and ran after his upset boyfriend.

'Duo really should tell Wufei he isn't used to being in a relationship.' Dorothy sighed and Quatre grimaced. 'It would make things so much easier.' He muttered.

'Ahem.' Suddenly someone coughed and Quatre almost jumped in alarm as three milkshakes were shoved, very ungracefully at that, onto the table. 'What -'

'Since the staff is too busy chatting with the customers I was asked to take this order.' Quatre looked up to see who the owner of the voice was and to his surprise he saw Trowa Barton. He stood there with an easy smile on his face. 'Thanks. I'll go check with Cathy. And Quatre? Those are on the house. You can see it as a compensation for the trouble I've caused.' Dorothy winked before walking away.

Just great. Just unbelievably-fucking great! Quatre wanted to drop his head onto the table so loud it would make Dorothy come rushing back. He was dumped by his two best friends who were having relationship-issues _and_ he was left alone with a person he was afraid he would get issues with if he was left alone too long with the guy. And how on earth was he going to drink three large milkshakes? Quatre groaned. 'Something wrong?'

'Yeah, two huge milkshakes are what's wrong. Take one if you want, they're free anyway.' He said with a wave. 'Sorry, but I can't.' Trowa said and slid into a chair on the other side of the table, facing Quatre. 'Why not? Quatre asked, raising an eyebrow and the youth's strange behaviour. Honestly, had the whole basketball-team – including Duo - fallen down on their head and suffered severe brain damage? Was there something going on he didn't know anything about? Because he sure as hell knew for sure he wasn't Yuri Shibuya and had been flushed down a toilet into another world. **1**

'Well,' Trowa started, 'I was sent here with the idea you might want to talk to someone.'

'Huh?' Quatre simply stared. He saw Trowa point towards the bar and followed his finger with his eyes, almost afraid who would be standing there. His feelings of anxious and nervousness were proven to be right, because it was Catherine, who looked at him with a grin on her face and waved before turning back to her work. Quatre turned back at Trowa, 'What?' He still didn't get it.

'Catherine's my sister.' When it had finally dawned upon Quatre, he made a surprised face. Trowa laughed at the expression, for he knew they didn't look like they were closely related to each other. He has a nice laugh, Quatre decided. Deep and somewhat husky. He frowned and shook his head. What was he thinking? This was Trowa Barton, number one friend of Heero Yuy.

'Good for you, that she's your sister. But I don't really feel like talking.' Quatre said, adding a "not to you anyway" in his head. Trowa looked at him, heaved a sigh and wanted to speak up again when he was interrupted by Quatre's cell phone. Quatre hastily grabbed his phone, looked at the caller ID and picked up.

'Duo! How did it go? What did he say? I'm sorry. Me and my big mouth.' Quatre rambled as he picked up the phone. He couldn't possibly feel guiltier about the situation then he did right now.

'Chill Quatre. It isn't your fault. But I haven't found him yet. He probably ran home. Shit Quatre! I can't go to his house. If Meiran finds out I upset him she'll kill me.'

'What better way to show your love for him?' Quatre mused and heard Duo gasp and sputter. 'Don't you find the idea romantic, Duo?'

'No.' Duo immediately answered and Quatre laughed. 'Call him.'

'He won't pick up.'

'Then go by his house.'

'Don't want to! I value my life, Quatre.'

'Then you have to talk to him about it tomorrow. But you know Wufei. Let him brood over it for one night and tomorrow he's depressed.' Quatre pointed out to his friend and he heard Duo sigh deeply. 'All right, I'll go talk to him. I'll call you afterwards.'

'Yes, you do that. Good luck Duo.' Quatre hung up with a sigh.

'I never would've thought Duo would be so troublesome.' Trowa said and Quatre let out a laugh. 'That's just how he is, always causing trouble. You'll get used to it. You have to.' Quatre explained and Trowa frowned. 'He causes trouble for you too?'

'Oh, don't look so surprised, of course he does.' Quatre laughed and after a moment of pondering added: 'Well, it's gotten less since that time when I fainted.' Quatre grinned at the memory.

_He and Duo were twelve at that time. Duo was kicking small rocks when he hit one too hard. It flew through the air, Quatre remembered __he was quite scared, and it smashed through a window. The woman who lived in the house stormed out and Duo grabbed Quatre quickly by the hand and ran. After three blocks he finally stopped. Quatre was so tired and his heart beated so fast in his chest that he fainted._

'Wait, you fainted?' Trowa had a look of slight shock on his face as he asked the question. "Hmph," Quatre thought, they always look like that when I tell them I fainted. Quatre looked at him with a smile and nodded. 'Yes, but that was a long time ago.' He said with a wave, wanting to dismiss the subject. It came too close to a truth he didn't want anybody but his friends and family to know. And Trowa Barton was certainly not a friend. 'What did Duo do?'

Quatre grimaced and said on a cold voice: 'Nothing that you'll find out in the near future.' Trowa looked at Quatre confused. He hadn't realized he had asked such a personal question. After all, it was Quatre who had brought it up. Sometimes Cathy was a bit too right, Trowa thought as there was one thought passing through his head. He really had to learn how to deal with people.

'Trowa!' A cheery voice suddenly called out and Trowa groaned softly. 'Could you help me for a sec? There's this really heavy box and Dorothy and I can't lift it. Could you do it for us?' She asked and Trowa groaned softly. He really didn't want to, but how could he refuse? She was his sister after all. 'Yeah.' And with an apologetic smile towards Quatre he stood up and walked away. Leaving Quatre alone to sigh in relief. He really wasn't all that good in dodging questions.

**TBC.**

**1** Yuri Shibuya is a character from Kyou Kara Moah! that I borrowed just for the fun of using his name. Because I love the idea of someone getting flushed down to another world, through a toilet!

**Author's Note:  
**I had so much fun writing this first chapter! I hope you enjoyed it too and stay tuned for the next one!

Please leave a review to tell me what you thought of it.


	2. Chapter 2

See first chapter for the Disclaimer. If there are any "new" warnings that I haven't told you about I will write them down too.  
**A short thanks **for my reviewers! It's nice to know people like the story and I hope you will enjoy this chapter too!

'…' Talk  
"…" Thoughts

**Chapter 02**

_I'd rather shut my eyes...  
__Call this a mask, call me strong;  
__Call me a mess, call me wrong.  
__'Cause sick hearts do fine  
__With wasting their time.  
_Sick hearts – The Used

'You're a bastard! You only think about yourself!' Relena huffed as she looked at her boyfriend. She sometimes seriously wondered how she could stand the guy! He could be such an emotionless bastard! Heero just looked away. 'Hn.'

'Don't ignore me! I don't understand you, Heero!' Relena yelled, her tone sounding frustrated as she continued. She looked at Heero again and sighed. Most of the time she felt as if it was useless to argue with Heero. It always seemed as if he never really listened to her. 'Honestly, I don't know why I date you at all! You won't even let me hang out with my friends without arguing with me.' Relena said angrily.

'I don't like him.' Heero said with a glare. 'Don't hang out with him.'

'And why the hell not? You afraid he'll steal me away from you? I almost hope he will try that!' Relena yelled as she flushed in anger. Heero had seemed to think for a long time now that he could forbid her to hang out with Quatre. She'd had it now. She had heard one bad word about Quatre too much and she was going to stand up for her friend. Even if it meant fighting with Heero.

'Relena,' Heero started and she almost hoped that for once he was going to agree with her. But when he spoke again she was highly disappointed and even more angry. 'Stop complaining.'

'Complaining? This is not complaining, Heero! This is trying to get some understanding smashed into you. Seemingly you find it very normal I like your friends but you can forbid me to hang out with mine! I'm sick of it.' She yelled on a tone that surprised even herself. Was she really this angry? For a moment Relena said nothing. Here she was, having a one-sided fight with Heero. If she didn't end this very soon she would say or do things she would regret later on. Like breaking up with him. Something she was seriously considering at the moment.

'Relena.' Heero suddenly spoke in a surprising soft voice. 'Perhaps,' he started, he tried to continue but faltered at the first try. He took a deep breath and tried again. 'Perhaps we should take it easy for a while.'

'Take it easy?' Relena questioned, her voice almost a whisper as she stared at her boyfriend. A slight fear crept up her spine and she had the strong urge to burst out crying. 'Are you breaking up with me?' She whispered. 'No.' Heero looked away. 'Just… I don't know.'

'I get it.' Relena said on an unusually cold voice. 'Then I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school, Heero.' With that said she left.

When Quatre heard the story from Relena the next day he couldn't help but feel guilty. He had a feeling that was the second relationship he completely ruined in just a day.

* * *

The classroom was almost empty. It was Thursday morning and the first period was History, a dull subject. Many just turned around and went back to sleep when their alarm clock went off. Of course, there always were some exceptions.

'Quatre, shut up.'

'Yes, what do you know about relationship-issues anyway?'

Quatre looked at his two friends with a frown. He should have felt offended by the comments he was receiving about his lack of knowledge in relationships. Instead he felt relieved. He even smirked as he said: 'Well, at least you still agree with each other.'

'Quatre, really. Stop trying to help us. It's not going to work anyway.' Wufei told his friend on a frustrated voice. Did he _have _to go on about this?

'But you should just say sorry and make up.' Quatre said and pouted. 'You're acting childish.'

'_You_ are the one who is sticking his lip out with puppy-dog eyes. And you say I am the one who's childish.'

'But Duoo!' Quatre whined. He knew he was acting like a 5-year old. But sometimes that was the only thing that worked. Because even unconsciously, his two friends were teaming up together to get Quatre to shut up. 'Quatree!' Duo mimicked Quatre's action. Quatre sighed. It wasn't like he was a quitter. It was just that he knew when he had lost.

'Quatre,' a soft voice suddenly whispered in his ear and made Quatre startle. He looked around and saw Hilde. 'Need some back-up?' She whispered and Quatre nodded. 'It's a miracle though we need to get those two back together.' He whispered back and shot a look at Duo and Wufei, who were avoiding looking at each other. 'Yes, a miracle indeed when it comes to Duo and Wufei.'

'What are you two gossiping about? The two most stubborn people in the entire school who've proclaimed war to each other I take it?' Both Hilde and Quatre startled as a new voice spoke up behind them. They both turned around and Hilde was the first to recover. She threw an arm around Quatre's shoulder as she said: 'Relena, don't scare us like that. He'll have a heart attack someday.'

'Tch, don't underestimate him. It's not that bad.' Relena huffed as she friendly, but teasing nonetheless, patted Quatre on the shoulder. 'Why don't we focus on the task at hand instead of worrying if I'll get a heart attack or not?' Quatre muttered softly as the two girls were fussing over him. 'Okay,' Hilde grinned, as did Relena. 'Back at the matter at hand.' Relena finished.

Then the two girls turned towards Duo and Wufei. Both of the boys stood there, quiet and hoping that Quatre and the girls had just forgotten they were there. They realized they were wrong as Hilde and Relena chorused: 'But you're in love!' Although it sounded more like a whine then anything else.

'No we were in love, but clearly it's not enough because Duo is ashamed of me.' Wufei said angry, nothing was left of his usual calm voice.

Quatre was taken aback and even the girls didn't know what to say. The only thing they did was nervously shift their looks to Duo, anxious in doing so. They all hoped he wasn't too pissed off yet and would just apologize to Wufei. But Duo only huffed and said: 'You know what, I don't want to deal with this now.'

While Duo walked away he felt a slight tug at his heart. It felt bad to be fighting with Wufei, and it was for such a childish reason too. But Duo, just like Wufei, was too stubborn to admit he was overreacting. Duo slumped down into a chair on the other side of the classroom. He glared at Wufei and Quatre for a moment before turning his face to the wall.

Yesterday things hadn't gone so well. First there had been the problem with Meiran. Duo sighed. No matter how hard he tried, he never seemed to get along with the girl. And to have to deal with her on the evening her brother had come home angry, well, Duo should've known it was a bad idea to go to Wufei's house anyway. He almost wanted to run away and bury his head in a pillow to cry as he remembered what had happened last night. Because really, to be confronted with everything he had avoided thinking about so suddenly, really hurt.

_When he arrived at the country-house – no, not just a house, a country-house – Wufei lived __in with his family, he saw__Meiran was already standing outside, pacing up and down the front lane. Duo sighed. He should have known. Whenever Wufei was angry, the last person he ever wanted to talk to was his sister. _

_Duo had known Wufei and Meiran for several years now. In the beginning he never understood the "I don't want to deal with my sibling when I'm angry" thing, but in situations like these, if he had a sibling, he would've probably felt the same._

_But her brother not wanting to deal with her didn't mean that Meiran wasn't curious to what was going on. So when she spotted Duo at the gate she rushed towards him._

'_Duo, did something happen?' Meiran asked and looked at him angrily. She laid a hand on her hip and looked at him calmly. Her voice was stern. It hadn't been a question. It was a demand and Duo knew he should answer it, because if he didn't she would force an answer out of him._

'_He's really mad, isn't he?' Duo muttered while he avoided looking at Meiran. 'Not mad. He looked more hurt than mad.' Meiran said. Her voice had turned a bit softer as she took in Duo's appearance. She felt bad for both Wufei and Duo._

'_Oh.' Duo sighed. He looked so forlorn for a moment. He felt tears prickling behind his eyes and he didn't know what to do. Every time he had fought with his past lovers the relationship had stranded only a few days later. It was probably because Duo never felt the need to take the blame and apologize. With those relationships he would've been just fine with it, but not now, not with Wufei_. _He refused to break up with Wufei. Not because he was stubborn, but because to his own surprise, he had fallen in love before he even realized it.__ And that's how the current situation had begun. Because even though Duo had had a lot of relationships, none of them had ever included love. So Duo was at a total loss on how to act. _

'_You know, I don't think you -'_

'_You don't think what? Doesn't thinking hurt your head?' Duo snapped at her. Meiran looked shocked for a moment. The boy was so stupid! Didn't he see she was only trying to help? She had a strong desire to strangle the boy. But her brother would probably do the same to her as he found out she had killed his boyfriend.__Meiran spat with a glare towards Duo: 'What is that supposed to mean?! I am only trying to help your sorry ass to get you back together!'_

'_Maybe I don't need your help!' Duo yelled as he looked at the girl. If Meiran didn't shut up soon he was sure he was going to break down. People were always trying to help him with things when he screwed up again. He looked down with a grim look. For once, he wanted to do the right thing on his own. _

_Things like this were the reason the two of them didn't get along, though. Meiran always thought she had to "help", and the one thing Duo didn't want right now was help. 'You always think you don't need any sort of help, and look at where that got you!' Meiran yelled. She didn't care her brother cared for Duo. This bastard wasn't going to just stand there, ignoring every hand held out to him and hurting Wufei in the progress of it all._

'_Where it got me?' His voice was surprisingly soft. He even surprised himself at how sad he felt at the moment. He shuffled his feet on the ground as he repeated himself again. 'You want to know where it got me.' Duo said while he looked up towards the front door, looking straight into the eyes of Wufei. Duo gasped as he saw the man standing in the doorway. Eyes cold and fists clenched together. How long had Wufei been standing there? Duo wondered. 'W-Wufei!' He called out as he started to walk towards the boy, but Wufei raised a hand, and the gesture made Duo stand still in the progress. Now he could only watch as Wufei turned his back towards him and walked away with a heavy sigh. The door fell into its lock._

'Duo- yo, Duo! Dude, are you even listening?' Duo glared at the unfortunate person that was shaking him to get his attention. "God, the guy is really annoying. Can't the bastard see that I'm not in the best mood to deal with him?" Duo thought as he roughly pushed the hand of the guy – wasn't it Kenji or something? – off of his shoulder. 'Leave me alone.'

'Tch,' Kenji turned up his nose as he placed his hands on the front of the desk and glared at Duo. 'You are in my seat.' He said coldly, but Duo just blinked. The guy was acting all tough, trying to scare Duo out of his seat. Well, if he thought he would get that done easily, he had another thing coming.

Normally Duo would've just stood up and taken another seat, but today he wasn't in the mood for being obedient and let the guy sit in his seat. It was almost as if he wanted the guy to get mad at him. Duo wanted to hit the guy, just out of frustration of everything that had happened. Duo sighed, he had never thought he would go that far to forget about it. Then again, he probably had to go to great lengths to forget about Wufei.

'So, are you going to stand up and let me sit in my seat?' Kenji pressed on. Duo glared at Kenji and leaned back into his seat. 'No. So fuck off.'

'Yo dude. You're not joking with me, now are you?' Kenji growled. 'Because if you are -'

'He is what, Mr. Harashika?' A sudden voice interrupted Kenji's threatening. Kenji's head shot up and he turned around a bit frightened. He took a few steps back until he was standing next to Duo. He wanted to be as far away from the teacher as space would allow him to. Duo followed his gaze to the door of the classroom. In the doorway stood, dressed in a three-part black suit that fitted just a bit too tight to be considered professional, Treize Kushrenada.

It wasn't that Kenji was scared of getting in trouble. The whole class knew otherwise. But what the entire school knew was that Treize wasn't just your average teacher. He, unlike most other teachers, meddled with the affairs of his students. He was a well liked teacher for those who kept to his rules. It was just too bad the majority of the school had never heard of "listening to rules". Duo had to admit he, for that part, actually belonged to the majority for once.

And it was just Duo's luck he had overheard a conversation - no he wasn't eavesdropping! – which made it very clear that if Kenji got send to detention one more time he would be suspended for unknown time.

'Are you going to answer my question, Mr. Harashika, or are you just going to stand there gaping like a fish?' Treize said with an almost vicious glare towards his student. 'I think he prefers to be a fish, Sir.' Duo snickered. This earned him a glare from his teacher, willing him to shut up, and an elbow against the back of his head from Kenji. 'Ouch man, watch where you push your elbow! You could hurt someone.'

'Shut up Maxwell. I'm not going to get suspended because of you.' Kenji whispered, soft enough he knew only Duo would hear it. Duo glared at him, but leaned back in his chair. 'Whatever.'

* * *

The sun shone down pretty bright that day, with a bit shade made by the trees around the patio. The weather was perfect for sitting outside, but that didn't stop Relena from sighing while she drew a hand through her hair. For a moment she stared into her glass of cool lemonade before looking up to her two best friends.

'So, you guys. I'm at a total loss right now! I've got no clue how I can get things right with Heero again.' She complained as she moved her straw around in her glass with her fingers. Quatre was the first to react.

'Heero…' Quatre started, but stopped again. He frowned for a moment before looking at Hilde. Hilde held his gaze for a moment and snickered. 'I still can't read your mind, Honey.'

'That's too bad.' Quatre sighed and wondered how he could get himself out of this situation. Why did Relena ask him, of all people, how she could fix things with Heero?

'You don't like Heero.' Relena stated and Quatre rolled his eyes. 'No, of course not. I'm not dating him.'

'Ha-ha-fucking-ha Quatre.' Relena drawled. 'I don't understand what you see in the guy anyway.' Hilde told Relena. Relena just raised an eyebrow and shot Quatre a look. 'So you two are ganging up on me now?'

'I don't like how that sounds.'

'No, me neither.'

'You guys!' Relena looked from Quatre to Hilde. 'Weren't you supposed to help my relationship get better instead of worse?'

'Well, if that means you won't be allowed to hang out with me anymore. No.' Quatre said honestly. He didn't like the fact Heero could forbid Relena to hang out with him. Personal issue or not. Relena frowned. 'Well, he is kind of jealous of you.'

'Jealous?' Hilde laughed. 'Never would've thought the basketball star-player to be jealous of Quatre.'

'It's not because he's Quatre. Uh, sorry Quatre.'

'It's all right.'

'But because he hangs out with me a lot.' Relena continued. 'And because Heero thinks Quatre likes me.'

'What!' Quatre shrieked. 'He thinks I want to date _you_?' Quatre asked and smiled apologetically at Relena. 'No offense, really, but that won't happen!'

'Ha, none taken.' Relena laughed and continued with a twinkle in her eyes: 'You've always leaned a bit more to the gay side of bisexual.'

'Not you too!' Quatre groaned and glared at Hilde. 'You've influenced her!'

'No I didn't. She came up with that all on herself.' Hilde shot back with a grin and winked at Relena. 'All right, can we now just drop the issue of my sexuality?'

'Getting shy, Quatre?' Hilde laughed. 'Perhaps.' Quatre deliberated what he should say next. 'But we promised Relena we would help her.'

'Well, that's a problem we can't solve. Unless you two stop hanging out entirely of course. Because it's not as if Heero would suddenly get so jealous he would see what he's missing when Relena's not around.'

'Oh my God, Hilde! You suddenly remembered me again as to why I love you so much.' Relena cried out with a grin. Two sets of eyes stared at her followed by an almost chorused: 'Huh?'

'Don't you get it?' Relena said and Quatre wondered why she was suddenly getting so excited. 'This is the perfect way to see if he cares about me at all. We'll make him _so _jealous that if he cares only a bit he'll explode! And because he already thinks Quatre likes me it shouldn't be a problem at all.'

'Heh, and here I was thinking I was just babbling something.' Hilde said her voice laced with faked pride. 'You are forgetting a main factor. And he is sitting over here.' Quatre said with a small wave. Relena immediately turned to him with a pout. 'Please!'

'No way.' Quatre grumbled. 'I'm not going to help you to provoke Heero Yuy.'

'Why not, Quatre?' Relena whined and Quatre tsk'ed. 'Be fair. Heero is no "good guy" and you know it. If he's mad he'll hit me. And with my almost scrawny arms, how hard do you think I can strike back? I'm on the ground before I can say: "We were only joking!"'

'But Quatre…'

'No. Whatever you do, you won't have my cooperation.' He told her and from his tone she knew this was final. She heaved a sigh and leaned back in her chair, adjusting her skirt. 'Fine. I'll just do it without your help then.'

'What? You're planning on flocking around me and pretend you suddenly like girls?' Hilde joked and Relena shot her a look. 'Nah. I'll just flock around Quatre.'

'What!? I thought I just said -'

'I know what you said, darling. But without your cooperation it might look even better. Heero won't be mad at you, but he will be suspicious. And when he asks me about it, I'll tell him I like no-one else but him!'

'And you'll live happily-ever-after. Geesh, what great lengths you will surpass for him.' Hilde rolled her eyes. Quatre just frowned. 'Somehow, I get the feeling I'll never understand girls.'

* * *

'Did you notice?'

'Notice what, Duo?'

'That people are suddenly talking about you. You know, quiet enough for it to seem like a whisper but meant for you to hear it.'

'Yes Duo, I noticed.'

'Okay. Then I just have one other question.'

'Yeah, what?' Quatre sighed. He was getting rather irritated. Couldn't Duo just ask immediately for what he wanted? 'What the hell did you do with Relena?'

'Huh?'

'Ever since she's been to your house two days ago she's acting weird. What did you give her man?' Duo joked and Quatre pouted. 'I didn't do anything. It's just that…' Quatre fell silent as he felt someone staring at his back. Or was it glaring? He carefully turned around and was met with dark cobalt eyes. If looks could kill… well, call in the ambulance.

'The glare's getting old, Heero.' Duo told the boy with a grin. Quatre felt a moment of relief when Heero's glare shifted to the braided idiot next to him. But as soon as whispers broke the silence of the room as Relena entered he whished he could just disappear.

And disappear he did. Not from the face of the Earth of course. He just went to a safe shelter where he could give himself some time to think things over. More importantly, think of a way to stop Relena from acting ridiculous! He sat at a table, head leaning on his hands, pondering on the current situation. From the corner of his eyes he could see something blonde come swirling his way and he smiled. 'Hey Dorothy.'

'Hey Sugar. You got dumped? Where's Duo?'

'Depressed at home. He's still fighting with Wufei. You know how he gets.' Quatre sighed and waved his hand.

'Yeah, I know. He gets moody and isn't much fun to hang out with.'

'Yeah, at some point he's exactly like Wufei.'

'And what about Hilde?'

'Work.'

'And Relena?' Quatre rolled his eyes. He didn't now what bothered him more. The fact that Dorothy really wanted to know everything or the fact that everything came down to Relena again. 'I don't really want to see Relena right now.'

'You don't?' Dorothy raised a brow. This was the first time Quatre didn't want to see any of his friends and it worried her. 'No.'

'You must be joking. With all the attention she's giving you it's really not that believable to be saying such a thing.' Quatre sighed again. He turned his head and glared at the second person interrupting his peace and quiet. 'You have a knack for interrupting conversations, Trowa Barton. I think that's very irritating.' Quatre said calmly. He looked up at the boy, silently willing him away. But Trowa didn't move as he shot Quatre a cold look. 'I don't know what you did with Relena, but Heero isn't happy because of it.'

'So? Go bother Relena then.' Quatre looked at Dorothy again. 'Relena's a girl. I don't know how she thinks.' He offered as an explanation. 'Well, when I find out what she's thinking I'll notify you of it. You never told me you knew Cathy's brother, by the way.' The last statement was made accompanied with a wave towards Trowa. 'Since when is that of any relevance? And I don't know him. He's just annoying.' Quatre said, totally ignoring Trowa. 'Well,' Dorothy smiled evilly, 'Since you don't know him and I've got to go back to work… I'll leave him with you. He's a pretty interesting _guy_.' Dorothy said and Quatre got the creeps because of the way she said "guy".

'So, do you want a milkshake or something?' Trowa asked when Dorothy walked away. Quatre looked at him and knew his look just said: "are you insane?" Trowa, after seeing Quatre's look, grinned sheepishly. 'Well, you gave me a milkshake last time, so I thought…' Quatre raised an eyebrow. Trowa Barton was just like a kitten. Give it milk just once and it keeps coming back. How annoying. 'That was just a leftover. You don't have to give it back. Besides, didn't I say before that if you wanted to get to know me you should ask for my hobbies?'

'I thought that was sarcastic.'

'It was. Didn't you get the hint?' Quatre was now almost glaring at Trowa. 'No.' Trowa stated, but continued. 'It seems I didn't get the hint. But I've been told a lot that, as a sportsman, I don't have a brain. So if you don't mind explaining.' If he didn't mind explaining? No-one could be this dense. So what kind of weird guy was this, wanting to _hear _someone say they didn't like him? "Well, whatever," Quatre thought. 'I don't know you. I don't want to know you. And I certainly don't understand why you're going through all this trouble to get to know me.' Quatre said. He ticked with his fingers onto the table as he waited for an answer.

It wasn't the fact it was Trowa Barton who, for some strange reason, tried to befriend him. It was the fact that he was a friend of Heero Yuy that bothered him.

Everything that was about Heero bothered Quatre. Everything but Relena, of course. She was there before Heero and Quatre got on bad terms with each other. So becoming friends with Trowa Barton, because sharing a milkshake together wasn't a thing strangers did, was out of the question.

Trowa, even though he was a sportsman and claimed to have no brain, figured out what Quatre's problem was. 'I don't know what your problem with Heero is, but -'

'It's mutual if you hadn't noticed yet.' Quatre stated dryly. 'You two must really hate each other if you don't want to know someone the other hangs out with.' Trowa continued, as if he hadn't heard Quatre.

Another thing that annoyed Quatre. He was a calm and collected person, but he hated to be ignored. He narrowed his eyes and almost hissed: 'What are you implying?'

'Nothing, really. Although I'm curious to what happened between Heero and you.'

'Heero and I don't like each other. That's it.' Quatre told Trowa in a tone that normally meant "end of discussion". But, as with everything it seemed, Trowa had other ideas. 'There must be more to it than just that.'

'If you want to know so badly go ask Heero. _He's _your friend. I just think you're annoying.' And with that said Quatre stood up and walked away, hoping to find a spot to think. This time without interruptions.

**TBC.**

**Author's note: **Oh, what will happen in the next chapter...? Aren't you curious? Well, I hope to have it up as soon as possible. Meanwhile, why not review?

Until next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

**Warnings and disclaimer:** see first chapter.

**Author's note: **Okay, this update took way longer than I had expected! Sorry for that. I'll try to be quicker with my next one but with me and my Beta busy with tests and exams at school I can't make promises. But I'll try my very best!

Also, as you may notice, I made some changes. I had some advice from a very nice person that said more "enters" would be easier to read. So I tried that and am quite statisfied.

I also changed the following:

"…" Speech  
'…' Thought

Well, enough rambling. Enjoy the next chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 03**

_You only see what your eyes want to see  
__How can life be what you want it to be  
__You`re frozen when your heart`s not open  
__You`re so consumed with how much you get  
__You waste your time with hate and regret  
__You`re broken when your heart`s not open  
_Frozen - Madonna

"Yo, Blondie!" Zechs didn't even have time to react before his friend Yamato was hanging onto his back and Zech's face was pushed onto the table.

"Ugh." Zechs attempted to get some words of annoyance out of his mouth, but in vain.

"What's up Blondie?" He heard Yamato say and he immediately knew he was being played with.

"Uncomfortable!" Zechs groaned and when the boy on his back went to stand on his own two feet he swung his elbow backwards.

Yamato retreated with a painful "oof" and when Zechs turned around he could see his smart-ass friend rubbing his left side with a goofy grin.

"Can't you act your age? And what does your mother feed you? I'm sure it's only Burgers and fries because I felt as if I had the entire team sitting on my back." Zechs joked.

Yamato combed a hand through his short jet-black hair with a grin on his face, and laid a hand on his waist and said with a fake offended and high pitched voice: "You think I'm fat? What kind of friend are you!"

"An honest one. Seriously, I understand why you don't have a girlfriend. They're afraid you'll be more of a girl then they are!" Zechs laughed and for a moment Yamato looked panicked. He looked around hastily to make sure none of the girls heard anything and hissed: "I was just kidding." On which Zechs simply answered: "So was I."

"You were? Geez, you could've mentioned that before I freaked out." Yamato said dramatically and Zechs rolled his eyes in annoyance. "So, where's our cyclone friend?" Yamato asked and Zechs almost burst out laughing.

"Don't let him hear you say that! He'll throw you nasty glances with that one eye for weeks. I'm sure those burn holes are still visible on my back."

"Don't overreact. It was just two days." Zechs and Yamato looked up at Trowa's voice and saw him walking towards them.

"You're late." Yamato said as he pointed an accusing finger to Trowa. Because Trowa being late was a suspicious thing since the guy was always on time.

"Well, I'm sorry I wasn't here before you were. If I had a white flag I'd wave it." Trowa said and Yamato stuck out his tongue.

"Whatever. Most of the time it takes a miracle to get you later in class than me. So, who's it this time? One of those cute freshmen I bet." Yamato laughed.

For some reason Trowa had always been very popular with the female population of the freshmen.

On Valentines Day his locker would be filled with cards and roses. Even on a normal day the occasional girl would confess her love to him.

"No, it wasn't a girl." Trowa shattered Yamato's illusion. "I just had a conversation with Heero."

"With Heero?" Zechs asked and immediately Trowa shook his head.

"No, not about anything sports related."

"Okay, whatever you say." Yamato said before Zechs could say anything. "Yo, Maiko-chan!" He yelled when he saw a pretty girl with long dark-brown hair walk into the classroom.

She looked to him with a big grin and waved. Yamato immediately took off, leaving Trowa and Zechs behind, snickering.

"He's so obvious. Even a blind man could see he likes her." Zechs said. Trowa nodded.

With a sigh of relief Zechs stretched his legs out in front of him. In his opinion he had deserved this break. An hour of history and two hours of mathematics would tire out anyone.

The blonde laid his head onto the grass and closed his eyes. He was enjoying his peace and quiet when he suddenly heard a very familiar voice yell unusual things.

"You should apologize!" Zechs saw Relena running after Duo. That was a strange thing on its own, because. Duo and Relena were almost as thick as thieves.

When one was pulling a prank, the other would laugh his ass off. But to see Relena yelling at Duo, and Duo running away, was a thing that spiked Zechs' curiosity.

"Duo, come on. Don't be such a child."

"I'm childish? Wufei doesn't talk to me because I never took him to get milkshakes!" Duo yelled as he turned around.

"Then you're both being childish!" Relena shot back. "Be a good grown-up boyfriend and apologize."

"No." Duo turned around and stalked away.

Relena, running after him, yelled: "If you two weren't so stubborn, you would have a good and healthy relationship!"

After Relena also disappeared Zechs snorted. It wasn't as if she had any right to talk about a healthy relationship. It wasn't as if she and Heero had such a stable relationship.

* * *

"They're fighting." Zechs announced as he sat down next to Trowa in the uncomfortable classroom seats.

Trowa turned to look at him and frowned. "Who?"

"Duo and What's-his-name."

"Wufei. Yes, I knew that." Trowa replied dryly.

Now it was Zechs' turn to frown. "And how do you know that?"

"Well, you know Cathy works at that Milkshake Café, right?"

Zechs nodded.

"It seems that Duo and his friends are regulars there." Trowa continued

"You're kidding?" Zechs said and after a moment of pondering said: "Well, I did hear Duo yelling something about not taking what's-his… uh, Wufei, for milkshakes."

"Duo was yelling?"

"At Relena. It was really weird."

"Hn. Well, it did have something to do with that. Wufei stormed out and Duo followed him." Trowa said.

Zechs just raised an eyebrow at that and said: "That's nothing special."

"Well, according to Quatre and Dorothy it is."

"You talked to Quatre? Quatre Raberba Winner? Heero won't take that well. He really can't stand Quatre." Zechs said.

Trowa frowned as he thought it over. Zechs knew Heero longer he did, and during the conversation with Heero this morning he hadn't really gotten any answers.

He hadn't asked Heero why he and Quatre hated each other. Heero was his friend and prying was probably a thing Heero wouldn't like very much. He could ask Zechs though not straight out.

"I heard Heero and Relena are on a break, by the way. Is that true?" Trowa asked and Zechs grimaced.

"Yeah, that's true enough. A pity, really. They're such a good couple. She's really good for him." Zechs paused for a moment. "You wouldn't know it, of course. They're dating for almost three years now and you live here only two years."

Trowa nodded.

"Well," Zechs continued. "Let's just say that before they started dating Heero was even more of a bastard than he is now. Don't look like that." Zechs said as Trowa looked at him with raised eyebrows. "You have to admit Heero isn't the nicest guy you ever met."

"That's true. But are they really that long in the relationship? I didn't know. Did they ever have a fight before?"

"No, not like the one they have now. They have small arguments though. Well, I guess this time it's a problem that won't be solved easily."

Trowa frowned. He started to wonder why everyone was avoiding the subject of Heero and Quatre. At the moment he felt like an outsider who wasn't supposed to know a thing.

'Well, if he had to gossip like a girl to get his answers then so be it,' Trowa decided as his curiosity won over.

"What's different this time?" Trowa asked. He wanted to smirk as Zechs explained things to him.

"Well, it's for the same reason as to why Heero is grumpy about most of the time during practice." Zechs paused and Trowa nodded.

"Quatre."

"Indeed. Heero didn't want Relena to hang out with Quatre anymore. He hated the fact those two were friends and I think he finally got tired of it. Relena, of course, didn't like that very much."

Now that Zechs thought of it, he was surprised Relena had held out for so long. If he had been in a similar situation he would've left ages ago. But of course, it's hard to suddenly break off habits that you've had for three years.

And even if you didn't see a relationship as something like a habit, you easily get used to the company. Even if you weren't completely satisfied it was just normal you were together.

Zechs noticed that Trowa seemed to think otherwise. But then again, he hadn't been there all those years ago.

"Heero should accept Relena's friends, as well as she accepted his. He's just being stupid and stubborn about this." Trowa said.

He looked out of the window and before Zechs could prove him wrong again with arguments said: "Of course, it would help to know why Heero and Quatre hate each other."

Zechs, even though he noticed how serious Trowa was, answered: "Don't bother Trowa. They go way back."

* * *

"You're clumsy as hell, do you know that?" Quatre grinned and Duo just glared at him.

"Shut up. I pity myself and you should too! Oh, poor little me. Going through this… Hey! Don't laugh!" Duo swatted a hand at Quatre.

It was obviously the wrong one because Duo winced in pain.

"No Duo, I don't pity you. You're just pathetic." Quatre said as he looked at his friend and saw him wince. Quatre frowned and asked: "Do I need to get the nurse for some pain-killers?"

"No, it's fine. It's only my arm. Look, if I bend it this way it doesn't even hurt!" Duo bends his arm in a way that, to Quatre at least, seemed to hurt a lot.

"Are you sure I shouldn't go to the nurse? If that position of your arm doesn't hurt, there might be something really wrong." Quatre said in a worried tone. He bit his lip when he saw Duo move his arm in a very uncomfortable way.

"We should at least ask if she wants to bandage your elbow. If that gash gets infected you'll have to go to the hospital." He said as he took a look at the cut on Duo's elbow. It wasn't life threatening, but it was a nasty cut nonetheless.

"Yeah, they might have to cut off my arm until all the way up here." Duo pointed to somewhere just above his elbow and Quatre gasped in horror.

He turned, ran towards the door in panic and yelled: "Oh my God, I have to get the nurse!"

"Quatre!" Duo shouted in panic.

Quatre calmed down a bit as he turned around.

"Don't be so naïve, it isn't good for your heart." Duo tried a small grin to point out to his stressed friend he was only joking.

Quatre looked at him, blinked, and sighed in relief. "Good." Before it all dawned down on him. "You jerk!"

He stalked to the bed and Duo cringed, afraid of being smacked over his head. But the smack didn't come and Duo peeked at Quatre from under his bangs. He saw Quatre smiling satisfied.

"It's good to see a bit of the normal Duo back."

"Yeah, thanks. I know it took a while." Duo smiled at the concern of his friend.

"It's all right. And between you and me, I think Wufei will come around." Quatre said in a hushed tone.

Duo smiled wryly. "Let's hope he will."

"And if he doesn't, you can always do it yourself." Quatre said with a small smile.

"I'll think about it." Duo said and Quatre sighed.

"That's one less thing to worry about then."

Duo smiled and said what he always did when Quatre would worry about everything and everyone: "You're too kind, Quatre. Don't worry so much." And he hoped every time again Quatre would take his advice and just let things be.

But of course Quatre wouldn't listen. Duo knew there were a lot of things that kept Quatre thinking and worrying.

Relena and Heero were fighting because Heero didn't want Relena to hang out with Quatre. 'That bastard!' Duo thought.

Heero Yuy was a real bastard to think he could order Relena around and hurt Quatre. One day he would show Heero how he thought about the guy.

And if that wasn't bad enough for Quatre, Relena was hanging all over him to gain Heero's attention. That was certainly not good for ones nerves.

But of course, this was Quatre. The guy who always faced his problems with heaved head and would find a solution to things no matter what.

Trowa Barton had also made an appearance. Duo had heard Quatre complaining about this and that the guy had done.

Trowa wanted to befriend Quatre, but Quatre didn't want to be friends with Trowa. Duo understood that. Who wanted to be friends with a person who could make life even more complicated?

But Duo also knew that he himself hadn't done much to ease Quatre's mind. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if he had made it worse. He sighed.

This fight between Wufei and him would end soon. They were both being childish, him for not apologizing and Wufei for being angry about such a little thing.

It made Duo think that something else might be bothering Wufei. Wufei was a down-to-earth guy. Something as small as milkshakes couldn't piss him off like this. Duo just shook it off as himself going insane. Besides, Quatre had said Wufei missed him, and Quatre never lied.

* * *

Duo leaned back into his seat as he shot Wufei a longing look. The concern he had seen in Wufei's eyes earlier wasn't something he had imagined.

But what had he expected? To be coddled because he fell down the stairs? Even though they were pretty high and the entire hall-way had been quiet as Duo had yelped in pain.

When Duo had walked past Wufei's desk he had heard a soft whisper. "Does it hurt?"

In shock he had turned around. For a moment he saw a hint of concern in Wufei's eyes before Wufei turned his head away.

"Yeah." Duo had said. Had hoped that Wufei would turn back at him and say it was fine. That he loved Duo's clumsiness.

Duo tsk'ed as he turned away from Wufei. If he wanted things to be right, he had to be the one to apologize.

"Are you all right, Duo?" He looked up and saw Hilde standing next to his desk. She looked a bit worried. "You're not dying from pain, right?"

"What! Hilde, don't be crazy. I just fell down the stairs." Hilde looked at him and frowned. "Really? Quatre was so worried when he got back from the nurse."

"Quatre's always worried." Duo simply said.

"He only worries about you." Hilde said.

'Yeah', Duo thought, 'but that's because I almost died once.'

A sudden pain ripped through his body as he remembered the accident. He shouldn't remember things from that long ago. He remembered nothing else from when he was that age. But the accident just stuck to him. It just wouldn't leave him alone. He sighed. 'Solo,' he thought with a sad smile, 'thank you.'

* * *

_Little hands tried to grab a ball that was way out of their reach. The brown-haired boy poked his tongue out as he jumped up and down. Laughter could be heard from his left. A small blonde boy sat on the ground, cheering his friend on: __"Higher Duo, higher!"_

_But Duo had always been on the small side. No matter how high he jumped he just couldn"t reach the ball. "So-chan, not so high!" He wailed and the older boy laughed. Solo looked at his little friend and said: "Here."_

_And he held the ball a bit lower. With a happy cry Duo pushed the ball out of Solo"s hands. He happily darted after it, towards the busy street._

_Duo had been running after the ball. There had been a car and suddenly he was lying under Solo who looked down at him with a pained smile._

_When the ambulance arrived the paramedics brought a heavily bleeding Solo, hysterically crying Duo and hyperventilating Quatre to the hospital._

_It was the worst day of their lives. Solo had saved Duo's life but it had cost him his own. Duo cried for an hour until he hadn't any tears left. Then he wanted to see "Q-chan". _

_But Quatre was sleeping in a hospital-bed and needed to be alone. Because Quatre was ill, the doctors foun__d out today. He had a weak heart._

* * *

"Duo?" Duo looked up and saw Quatre.

"I'm fine." Duo said and Quatre nodded. "I won't die by falling down the stairs." Duo said.

"But you could. Some people break their neck." Quatre protested. "I'm not just some people."

"I know." Quatre said as he sat down onto the desk.

Duo grinned. "I'm invincible."

"Are you sure? I've never head of someone like that falling down the stairs."

Duo glared as Hilde walked back to his desk. "Where did your concern for me go?"

"Gone with the idea that Quatre was just terribly over-reacting." She said and Duo rolled his eyes.

No pity from his friends then. Too bad, he would have to get that somewhere else.

"So, how does one fall down the stairs?" Relena, late as always, asked.

"I tripped over a bag!"

"You could've seen it." Relena argued.

"No, it was just suddenly there. Someone must've pushed it in front of my feet."

"Yeah, right! A conspiracy to make Duo fall down the stairs." Relena and Hilde laughed.

'No, not me.' Duo thought as he looked at Quatre.

Quatre smiled lightly as he caught Duo's look. "It does sound a bit unreasonable."

"Yeah, whatever." Duo said.

Relena and Hilde laughed and started telling an uninterested Quatre what they did during their practice.

Because of that no one saw Duo glare at Heero.

* * *

"Are you insane?"

"Huh? No, of course not."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure, why?"

"You were drooling all over your desk."

"I was not!"

"Yes, you were."

"Yamato is right, Zechs. You were." Trowa had watched his friends argue like this a lot of times. He knew if he didn't interfere they could go on for hours.

"So what if I was." Zechs gave in with a sigh.

"He's too old for you." Yamato said and Trowa nodded.

"And a teacher." He whispered, making sure Zechs and Yamato were the only ones who heard.

"So? If he didn't want people to admire his good looks he shouldn't have become a teacher."

"You're even worse than the girls." Yamato laughed, which earned him a glare from Zechs.

"Well, he is flaunting with it with those tight suits." Trowa shrugged.

Zechs grinned and immediately said: "See, he's hot."

"I didn't say that. I just said he's doing an awful lot to look it, for a teacher that is."

"Whatever. I still think he's hot."

"Together with almost the entire female population of the school." Yamato laughed.

Zechs just ignored him.

* * *

Because of his arm, Duo didn't participate in training that day. He was there, though, sitting on the bleaches.

Once in a while he would glare at Heero. Something the entire team noticed.

After a while Heero turned to Duo and said: "Does your arm hurt a lot? How stupid to fall down the stairs."

Duo looked at him and sneered. "Yes, it was just too bad your bag was _shoved _in front of my feet."

"How unfortunate." Heero said with a grin.

The rest of the team was shocked. Heero wanted Duo to fall down the stairs? What was going on here?!

"Unfortunate indeed," Duo continued after a moment. No one had ever heard Duo speak so cold and look so angry. "Only too bad you didn't want _me _to fall down, right?"

Heero looked shocked. Even more so when Duo stood up and walked towards him.

"If you-know-who ever falls down the stairs, or has some other accident, I know where to find you, Yuy. And I'll make you regret it." Duo growled.

"Is that a threat, Maxwell?"

"Damn right it is. And I've never been more serious." After having said that, Duo stalked away.

* * *

"Hi Honey." A gorgeous dark-haired middle-aged woman called from behind the kitchen table. She looked young, was young with her 34 years, but signs of aging could be seen. Small wrinkles, and sometimes a tired smile. But nothing else was expected of Helen.

"Hi mom." Duo said, but slowly trotted further in the hopes that his injured arm would not be noticed.

But of course sweet, big-eyed, three year old Chloe saw it. She probably felt bad for her big brother, probably, and cried out: "Auwie. Duo has an auwie."

Helen looked up and saw Duo's bandaged arm. Yes, arm. The nurse had gone all-out on this one.

She abandoned Chloe's dinner-in-a-pot and rushed over to her son. "Duo, what happened?"

"Nothing mom. I just tripped and fell down the stairs." He told his mother with a goofy grin.

"I'll look at it tonight, when Chloe's father is at home. He can look after her for a while." She said.

After that Duo as shooed out of the kitchen so Helen could feed Chloe.

Duo went to his room and lay down onto his bed. He was glad his mother gave up on him acknowledging Bob as his real father.

He flatly refused to. Bob was a nice, decent man. He took good care of Helen and adored his little girl. He and Duo got along pretty well.

He also understood that Duo already had a father, though the man was on the other side of the world.

There was only one thing that Bob and Duo always fought over. Wufei. And Bob had been pleased to hear the two were fighting.

"Go find yourself a nice girl." He had said.

Just too bad that Duo had never been into girls, and he was going to apologize to Wufei. Today.

Although today had a big chance of becoming tonight. Duo lay on his back, thinking of what to say. In his opinion he had two choices.

He would either get very emotional (over the phone) and apologize with tears-and-tissues. Then he would, still emotional and still over the phone, explain he was an ass.

He could also ask if Wufei wanted to meet him somewhere and get emotional face-to-face.

Over the phone seemed very appealing. But that was a very girly thing to do and wouldn't be respected by Wufei.

Duo would muster up all of his courage and talk to Wufei face-to-face. He grabbed his phone from the night-stand, knocking his alarm clock to the ground in progress. He took a deep breath and dialled Wufei's number.

Beep-beep-beep- "Hello?"

Duo breathed out as he heard Wufei's voice. Strange, he hadn't even noticed he had held his breath. "Hi Wufei. It's me."

Duo waited for Wufei to answer. Hoping he would ask how he was or something stupid like that.

But instead, Wufei just asked: "What is it?"

Duo felt a thrill of disappointment. Wanted to hang up, call Quatre and say that, yes, he was a coward and therefore didn't want to apologize to Wufei. But he had already come this far. Why anger Wufei by calling for nothing?

"I was wondering." Breathe in, breathe out. "If we could meet somewhere tonight. You know, to talk." Breathe in, breathe out.

If he just kept breathing and kept calm, things would turn out fine.

"I-I don't know if I can." From the tone of Wufei's voice Duo knew he was nervous.

Duo was glad about that. At least he wasn't the only one pulling his hair out. 'Please, oh please don't let me go through this for nothing.' He silently begged.

Should he become a Christian, like his mother wanted him to? Perhaps God would reward him for it by letting Wufei and himself get back together.

"I-uh… I can make it nine o'clock at the park near the ice-cream stand." Wufei said softly and Duo had to suppress the urge to jump up and down while yelling "Thank you God, thank you!" Oh, what would his mother think?!

"That's fine. So, I'll see you tonight?"

"Yes," was that longing he heard in Wufei's voice? "See you tonight."

* * *

"Don't run through the kitchen Duo." His mother warned. She could be really stern if she wanted to.

"Sorry mom." Duo slowed down but was still a bit rushed. "What are you going to do? Dinner's almost ready." Helen said and Duo looked at her.

"Can I make a call before dinner?"

"No. You can lay the table." Bob walked into the kitchen and patted Duo on the shoulder.

"All right." A bit sulky he grabbed the plates.

While he put them on the table his mother inquired friendly: "Who do you have to call?"

"Quatre." Duo said and his mother smiled knowingly.

"Why do you need to call him? You saw him at school today." Bob asked.

Duo looked at him and wanted to poke his tongue out and say: "None of your business."

But his mother wouldn't like that. She might scold him for his rudeness. And unknown to others, Duo was a real mother's darling.

So instead he chose to be honest and tell the truth. And he would also ignore the insults that followed, of course.

He took a deep breath and prepared himself. "It's very important! I have to tell him I'm meeting Wufei tonight."

Bob looked at him wit a raised brow. "Didn't you break up with him? I thought you were going to date a girl."

"Bob, I'm gay. You can't change that. Not with therapy or anything. And Wufei and I never officially broke up. Better yet, I'm going to fix things with him tonight." Duo said.

Almost desperately Bob looked at Helen. "He's your son. Shouldn't you do something about this?"

Helen frowned in annoyance. "I won't! We talked about this, Bob. I love my son every way he is and if you have a problem with that, it's all yours. But don't patronize me how to raise my son."

After that dinner was a bit uncomfortable. Duo ignored Bob – "He's just that age" -, told his mother about school – "He asked if it hurt!" – and later excused himself because "I just have to ask Quatre for advice!"

When Duo had left the kitchen Bob remarked dryly: "Okay, so he's gay. That's all right. But does he have to be such a girl about everything?"

And even Helen couldn't suppress a giggle. Bob was right, she thought. When it came to relationships, Duo was the girl.

* * *

"Hey Q. What's up?" Duo grinned and he could just imagine Quatre smiling affectionately on the other side of the phone.

"Hi Duo. I think Relena's stalking me now." He said it so calm that Duo burst into laughter.

Relena stalking Quatre? Now that was a thing he really wished to see. "Are you sure it isn't that freshman girl that has a thing for you?"

"Ugh, it could be." Quatre groaned. "It feels so much more comfortable when I think it's Relena. Although God knows what's gotten into her. I want her off my back."

'Insert melodramatic sigh,' Duo thought and snickered softly.

"But even though I want Relena to back off, it's still better if it's her. The other girl might break into my house and run after me with an axe."

Yeah right, Quatre's house was more secured than the White House. He had nothing to worry about. 'Unlike him I have a problem that needs attention right now.' Duo thought.

"Okay, before you fall in despair and can't help me anymore. I called Wufei."

Silence.

Quatre was probably gaping, much like a fish on the dry. Well, he would give it a minute before the news progressed in Quatre's brain.

After half a minute Quatre came out of his shock. "What?"

Duo rolled his eyes. "I. Called. Wufei."

"Really? When?"

"This afternoon."

"Good for you. What did he say? Was he happy? Even more important, are you back together?"

"Phe, he wasn't exactly thrilled to hear me."

For a moment Duo thought back to the conversation. "Curt. That's what he was. Like he wanted to get off the phone a.s.a.p."

"Oh. So, the phone-call went bad?" Quatre sounded disappointed.

"No, besides that it went great! I'm meeting him at nine."

"Tonight?!"

"Yes, tonight!" Duo gloated with a large grin. "But…" he started but let his voice trail off.

What could he say? Asking for advice was such a girly thing to do. Telling Quatre that he didn't know what to say was another thing. But he had to find the right words to say first.

Luckily Quatre, as the good and understanding friend he was, beat him to it. "You're nervous. I know. But you've dated him for sometime now. It will be fine. Just be your normal self."

A small pause.

"No, try to be calm and collected. That won't scare him off."

"Hey! Well thank _you _very much."

"You know what I mean. It will be fine. I mean, come on! This is you and Wufei. What could possibly go wrong?"

"I know, you're right. Tonight things will be fixed between us and we can finally go on that anniversary date."

"That's the spirit, Duo!" Quatre cheered and they both laughed.

**TBC.**

**Author's note: **Hope you were satisfied with it! Leave a review and I'll try to hurry up with the next chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

**Warnings and Disclaimer: **See first chapter.  
**Author's note: **All right, I am very sorry for the long time in-between my updates. I've had a major Writers Block going on for the past month and on top of that I finished my exams and received my diploma. (I am now officially a book-keeper if anyone is interested)  
I hope the chapter wills satisfy you and I will most certainly try to get the fifth chapter out faster than this one.  
Enjoy!

**Chapter 04**

_And I feel like  
__I'm living the worst day  
__Over and over again  
__And I feel like the summer is leaving again  
__I feel like  
__I'm living the worst day  
__I feel like you're gone  
__And every day is the worst day ever  
_Worst Day Ever – Simple plan

Breathe in. Breathe out. If he just kept his breathing pattern calm and his mind empty he would loose all that nervousness. He hoped.

He was sitting on the hard wooden floor for a bit over an hour now. Cross-legged and eyes closed. But no matter how hard he tried, or how calm his breathing was, the nerves wouldn't leave.

Perhaps if he stayed there for another hour. He would still have ten minutes at most to get to the park. Normally it was a twenty-minute walk. He would have to hurry, but at least his mind would be calm and collected.

He took a deep breath and settled for another hour of meditation.

Suddenly, with a very loud and way too happy voice, Meiran threw the door open and yelled so loud everyone in the vicinity could hear her: "Why didn't you tell me you were going to see Duo!"

Wufei looked at his sister a bit startled. His entire concentration was now lost and his patience went with it. "You stupid woman! I was meditating!" He scowled. His sister could be so ignorant of other people sometimes.

But Meiran just grinned. "_Was _being the secret word."

"Just go away."

"Not until you tell me why you didn't tell me."

Wufei sighed. He knew his sister. She would whine and nag him until he told her.

"I didn't because I knew you would act like a …" But he was interrupted by a squeal.

"Now you're going to make up with him and it'll be so romantic!"

"… girl." Wufei finished and Meiran frowned.

"You are going to make up with him, aren't you?" She inquired.

He shrugged with a slight frown on his face. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? Of course you know! You are going to make up with Duo." Meiran ordered angrily. Sometimes she just didn't understand her brother. He had to make a problem about everything.

"Meiran shut up. I don't need you criticizing me on top of everything else too."

"You need someone that fusses over you, you know? Otherwise you'll crash and burn." Meiran scolded.

In return Wufei scowled at her, saying: "What do you mean with 'crash and burn'?"

"I mean what you are doing now. Destroying your relationship!" She yelled at him.

Wufei almost winced at her tone. But after years of practice he had gotten used to her yelling. "It is something I have to do." He said in a soft voice.

"Is breaking up with him something you have to do? You bastard!" Meiran spat.

Suddenly she stood up and walked towards him. Wufei looked at her with shock written all over his face.

The shock only got worse as she hit him in the face all of a sudden.

Wufei didn't even have a chance to defend himself with whatever excuse he could come up with during the tirade.

"It's written all over your face that you love him and still you break up with him? Only because you think it is something you have to do?! Che, I feel sorry for Duo, do you know that? That such a great guy would ever fall in love with a bastard like you, only to have his heart broken!"

She stared at him, rage showing clearly in her eyes. When Meiran realized she was out of words she stormed out of the room, yelling: "You'll regret what you are going to do! I really hope you do."

Wufei could only feel depressed when Meiran left. He had made his decision and she wouldn't change that.

He had over thought things a lot before coming to his decision. Although he had wanted things to go smoothly. He never wanted things to go this way, but it still did. Silently he cursed his life as he made his way to the front-door.

When he passed the living-room he heard his mother call out to him. "Going out, dear?"

"Yes. I will be back within the hour, mother." Wufei answered.

He silently hoped his mother would say he couldn't go out tonight. That way he didn't have to go to Duo.

But his mother was not the kind of person to stop her son from going out. "All right, have fun." She said and Wufei had to suppress the urge to sigh.

* * *

His feet felt heavy as he walked to the park. He had actually left early. Although he didn't know if that was because of reluctantly for breaking up with Duo, or because he wanted things to be over quickly. He hadn't actually expected to be this anxious.

Perhaps it was because he cared a lot about Duo. 'Yes,' he thought to himself bitterly, 'I'm going to break up with the guy whom I like.' He actually wanted to sneer at the entire situation and his overall pathetic life.

If only he had been born in a different family. His life would have been a lot easier for him. Unfortunately, that was a thing he couldn't change.

With a sigh he turned around corner and thought about the time he told his mother he was dating Duo. His mother must have mistaken Duo for a girl the one time she actually saw him, because just a few days later she was flaunting to all of her friends that 'my Wufei is dating such a nice and proper girl!'

His mother was the first to find out Duo was actually a guy. The next time she saw her friends and they asked how her son was she just said that 'he hangs out a lot with a very good friend of his.' Wufei could just imagine the bitter undertone of those words.

But in comparison to his father's reaction his mother had actually been quite polite about the entire thing.

Then again, that was to be expected of a woman with her status and upbringing.

His father was also behaving as he should according to the rules of etiquette. Because when he was yelling that "no son of mine will be gay!" he did as was expected from him. He kept to the rules and was peremptory. The man never thought about the possibility his son might suffer due to that decision.

It was expected from any man of the status Wufei belonged to marry a nice and proper girl. People wanted to see a relationship that would be looked at with the words: "now isn't that the loveliest couple."

Wufei detested those rules and in the beginning he might have been dating Duo in a moment of rebellion against his parents. Later on that wasn't the situation anymore.

But his parents pressuring him to break up with Duo and date a girl was taking its toll on Wufei's disobedience, as his parents liked to call it.

Duo feigning ignorance about his home-situation and the feelings that came with it weren't a big help to their relationship either.

Wufei wasn't characteristically a suspicious person, but Duo had been acting a bit differently towards him for a few weeks now. Duo was a touchy-feely kind of person, everyone knew that.

At first Wufei found it annoying to be touched all the time but, just like with other things, he got used to it and later on he even enjoyed Duo's occasional touches.

Only since a few weeks Duo wasn't as touchy-feely anymore. He touched Quatre more than he did Wufei. A pat on the shoulder and the like were consequently reoccurring, and it irritated Wufei greatly.

He actually blamed himself for this. He had become distant when his parents had found out he was dating a guy. He refused to take Duo to his house because he knew the reactions they would receive.

If his parents were home anyway, because the days both his father and mother were at home at the same time were very rare.

A few times Duo had asked him why they never went to his house a few times. Wufei always succeeded in subtly changing the subject.

Duo was a very open-minded person and Wufei was sure his parents' reaction to their relationship would hurt Duo. Perhaps even damage their relationship a bit.

It was only too late that Wufei realized it was actually his own fault things had gone downhill.

* * *

Before Wufei even realized it he had arrived at the arranged spot in the park. After a quick scan of his surroundings he concluded Duo wasn't there yet. "Of course he isn't here yet!" Wufei scolded himself. "He won't arrive fifteen minutes early!"

With a heavy sigh he sat down on the nearest bench and folded his arms over his knees. He stared at the ground. He would just have to wait in silence for doom to arrive.

If he were honest with himself, Wufei would have to admit he was scared. Scared he might regret his decision later. Scared he would have to look at Duo from the other side of the window and didn't have the right to talk to him anymore.

He shook his head and closed his eyes tightly. He started to wonder how Duo would react to his decision.

Of course Duo wouldn't burst out crying. That wasn't a thing Duo did. Certainly he would be upset, and…

Nearing footsteps immediately stopped his train of thoughts. Wufei swallowed and wondered if fifteen minutes had always been this short.

He nervously twisted his fingers and tried to think of something to say. When the young boy with a long braid swinging behind him came into view his heart sank into his boots.

He closed his eyes and wondered if it was doubt that seemed to momentarily overtake him. But Lady Luck didn't grace him with more time to decide whether this was the right thing to do or not.

"Wufei," Duo looked at his boyfriend with a nervous smile. Wufei was still his boyfriend, wasn't he? They didn't break up and tonight would be the end of their childish discussion.

Wufei on the other hand wasn't smiling. He cocked his head to the side for a moment and sighed. He didn't know where to begin.

"Wufei?" Duo questioned Wufei's silence and sat down next to the boy. He looked at Wufei with a small smile. "I thought it was a good idea we talked."

"Yes." Wufei answered curtly. He saw Duo nod, urging him to continue. But he didn't know where to start with. No matter what he said, it would sound cruel.

"Duo." Wufei started and took a deep breath. He shot a look towards Duo and felt like he could burst out crying.

Duo was looking at him with a look of hope on his face. Right now, he felt he was the biggest bastard in existence.

'But,' Wufei thought, 'this is for the best. In the end we will get both what we want. No more stupid fighting and jealousy. We will be friends.'

Wufei took another deep breath and in a somewhat sad voice said: "I'm sorry Duo. But it's over."

Duo gasped and blinked a few times. He felt tears welling up in his eyes and all he could hold on to was the hope this was all just a cruel joke.

"W-Wufei," Duo whispered softly in a heartbroken voice. He looked at his boyfriend, or was that ex-boyfriend now? He felt his heart break when he saw the sad yet determined look on Wufei's face.

"Y-you're joking, right? T-this is all a joke and -"

"Duo." Wufei interrupted him and for a moment Duo looked like a frightened animal. "I'm really sorry." He whispered.

"Then why?! If you're sorry, why are you doing this?" Duo was almost yelling now. He didn't know what or how to feel. But he knew he was desperate for Wufei to tell him it was all just a joke. He simply couldn't believe this was true.

Only to have the harsh reality slap him in the face when Wufei said: "We're… it's just not working between us."

"Are you saying you don't love me anymore?" Duo questioned softly. He didn't want to hear the answer. All he wanted was to turn around and run away. But he knew that if he didn't hear the answer he would regret it later.

"Yes… I guess that's what I'm saying." Wufei answered.

Duo heard the doubt in Wufei's voice and he could see the sadness in his eyes. Somewhere in the back of his mind the fleeting thought of questioning further popped up. It just couldn't be true.

But that thought was quickly forgotten when he was too overwhelmed by sadness.

Wufei was sitting with an air of uncertainty and avoided looking at him.

"I-I'm going to Quatre's." Duo whispered in a heartbroken voice.

Wufei looked at him for a moment and nodded. He felt awful and could only imagine how Duo was feeling right now.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow." Duo said with an obviously fake smile.

* * *

Duo was almost in tears when he arrived at Quatre's house.

He really didn't feel like going home right now. His mother would ask what had happened and Bob would say that he could finally find himself a decent girl now.

He was sure he wouldn't be taking those things very well at the moment. So going to Quatre was the best option.

Besides, his friend knew him inside out and always knew what to say to make him feel better. So going to Quatre was the best option. But Duo being heartbroken over a relationship was a first time experience for the both of them.

Duo took a deep breath before ringing the bell. Yelling voices and loud footsteps could be heard from inside the house. The Winner household was always full of life.

The door was opened and a smiling Iria stood in the door-opening. "Hello Duo."

"Hi Iria." Duo took a deep breath and tried to smile.

Iria's smile faded and she looked at her little brother's best friend with worry. "Duo, did something happen?" She asked as she ushered him inside.

"Kind of." Duo whispered and felt really small and lost in the enormous house all of a sudden. "Is Quatre around?" He mumbled while trying to avoid looking at Iria.

"He's in his room. Shall I get him for you or -"

"No, I know my way. Thanks Iria."

Duo slowly made his way up the stairs towards Quatre's room. His body felt stiff from all the pent-up emotion he was feeling.

* * *

"I knew I heard a familiar voice." Duo looked up as he saw his best friend standing in the doorway of his bedroom.

Normally Duo would smile and enthusiastically greet his friend. So it really surprised Quatre when Duo didn't even nod to acknowledge him but instead, almost emotionally, walked past him into his room.

"Duo?" He asked worried in a worried tone.

Quatre knew Duo wasn't the kind of person to be sulking. Duo was the optimistic type of person.

'What happened?' Quatre wondered as he looked at his friend.

He frowned as he was thinking of the things Duo had done today. Nothing too spectacular happened at school. Well, Duo did fall down the stairs but that certainly wasn't the cause of this out of character behaviour.

Duo had met Wufei too tonight. But Duo had been very optimistic about that. From the call he had with Duo he was sure they would have patched things up again.

But if things had gone wrong, it would mean they didn't patch things up. Quatre gasped when he figured out what that actually meant.

"Oh, Duo. I'm really sorry." Quatre muttered softly. A sad expression crossed his face.

Duo looked up to Quatre as his friend spoke. He shook his head and said: "It's not your fault."

Duo felt quite proud of himself that his voice sounded even. He felt like shit right now but he wasn't going to show Quatre.

Quatre was a light-hearted person and that always made Duo feel better when he was in a bad mood. And that was what made him go to Quatre's house.

Because he certainly didn't want to think about Wufei right now.

He had the feeling his mind now finally understood that when Wufei had said it was over, he meant it.

Wufei wasn't joking, his expression had been dead serious. He had broken up with Duo and it just now registered in Duo's mind he didn't even know why.

It all had been so unexpected. He had been optimistic when he arrived at the park and saw Wufei. His heart had fluttered at the sight of Wufei and he had fallen in love all over again.

Only to have his hopes of being together with Wufei ever again being crushed by those cruel words. 'But,' Duo decided, 'I am not going to think about that now.'

Meanwhile Quatre was biting his lip quite nervously. He was dying to know what had occurred between Duo and Wufei.

He had figured out they had broken up but he wanted to know why. Duo had seemed very optimistic before.

He was silently debating with himself whether he asked Duo what had happened or not.

But he didn't have to wonder about that for very long.

Duo had been watching Quatre's expression change and had decided he would help his friend out of misery.

"He broke up with me." Duo explained.

Quatre opened his mouth to say something but Duo raised his hand.

He looked at Quatre with a somewhat pleading expression and said: "End of story."

And even though Quatre didn't want their conversation to end there he nodded. Because Duo didn't need an interrogation right now.

And when the two of them made their way downstairs to watch some TV Quatre sighed. He wondered what was going to happen when Duo faced Wufei again at school.

* * *

After having made some drinks Quatre and Duo sat down on the couch to watch some random TV-series. Quatre wasn't paying much attention when suddenly he felt a soft nudge in his side.

He turned towards Duo and saw him leaning against the back of the couch, staring at the ceiling.

"Duo, are you okay?" He asked with a small frown.

"Yes, a bit I guess." Duo nodded. "I'm not getting better than this right now. Feeling shit will probably be almost mandatory for the coming week." He said bitterly and sighed.

"I'm sure you'll be fine very soon." Quatre said gave his friend a reassuring smile.

But Duo shrugged and in a voice laced with hurt said: "He said he was sorry. Do you want to know what else he said?" Duo questioned and turned to Quatre. "I asked if he didn't love me anymore and all he said was: 'Yes, I guess that's what I'm saying.'"

Duo looked down and fidgeted with the end of his braid. He wanted to tell Quatre what Wufei had told him. But right now he was feeling very self-conscious about himself and the situation.

He looked at Quatre for a moment who smiled at him. "Duo, you know you don't have to tell me."

"I know," Duo paused for a moment and shrugged. "I'm just trying to get it off my chest, you know. Perhaps it will help me to forget about him sooner." Duo said and after a moment laughed bitterly at his own words.

"As if," he commented on his own words after a few moments. "The worst is that I really like him. I could've loved him, you know."

"Duo!" Quatre looked at his friend with shock written all over his face. "It's not a bad thing to love someone, right?"

"It is when you get it all thrown back at you when the guy breaks up!" Duo answered him almost angrily.

Quatre looked at his friend in compassion and all he could think was: 'Oh Duo.'

**TBC.**


	5. Chapter 5

Phew, finished another one. If you're interested in the warnings and disclaimer you can go check out the first chapter.  
Now on with the story and I hope you enjoy!

**Chapter 05**

I say it  
Sucka-Sucka-Sucka-Sucka-  
Sucka-Sucka-Sucka-Sucka-  
Sucka-Sucka-Sucka-Sucka-  
Suck!  
It suck to be me!  
_It sucks to be me – Avenue Q_

Quatre was in a bad mood. A very bad mood.

He was dead beat because he hadn't gotten any sleep at all last night. Duo had stayed with him until it was three o'clock and then Quatre decided it was better if Duo just stayed over.

By the time Quatre was lying in bed it was half past three and he was unable to sleep.

Duo would probably blame it on Quatre being Quatre. Quatre sighed as he realized Duo was probably right.

Because he was worried about how Duo and Wufei's friendship would change after the break-up. Only he was so worried for them, he hadn't slept at all that night.

So when Duo had woken up, with his bad mood gone and yapping quite chirpy to Quatre, he decided today was certainly _not_ his day.

* * *

School had been a complete disaster. It started with the fact Wufei had called in sick.

Duo had pretended he didn't care and Quatre simply thought that if Duo didn't care he shouldn't worry about it either.

Nothing too bad had happened yet.

Things got worse when Hilde and Relena found out Wufei had broken up with Duo.

When Duo was off to basketball practice they thought that would be the perfect time to question Quatre on the matter.

Put under pressure Quatre reluctantly told them the entire story.

Relena was quite angry with Wufei for breaking up with Duo so suddenly and Hilde felt bad for Duo.

But the feelings of both the girls were feeling on the matter were very easily forgotten as they remembered Wufei was absent that day.

Quatre was threatened, yes threatened, to call up Wufei and ask him if he was really sick or just pretending for the sake of not having to see Duo.

What would Hilde and Relena threaten Quatre with, you wonder? Well, let's just say that baby-pictures of you in nothing but your diaper going around school would make any person leap to the phone.

During the call it was hard to tell whether Wufei's voice was shaking slightly from nerves or from the sheer anger of being mistrusted.

Wufei was the kind of person that got sick very easy and he had been feeling a bit on the edge for a few days. So when he felt sick and had a killer-headache when he woke up that morning he wasn't surprised.

After five minutes Quatre took Wufei's word on things and broke off the conversation by saying Wufei should probably go back to sleep. Wufei hung up with the promise to let Quatre know when he felt better.

Quatre told Hilde and Relena exactly what Wufei had told him. He almost scowled when both started to complain he should have asked different questions.

No, Quatre's mood didn't improve as the hours passed by.

* * *

When Quatre and Duo were walking home Duo was telling all about the training with a grin on his face. Quatre looked at his friend with a frown.

"Duo, are you all right?"

Duo looked up with a frown on his face. "Yes I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

Quatre looked at Duo with a faint smile. "Well, you know…" Quatre trailed off and sighed. He wasn't the kind of person to cruelly point out the obvious. But what other way was there to make this clear? "Because Wufei broke up with you only yesterday." Quatre continued softly. "And you seem like you don't care."

"Well, I always act like this when another relationship goes wrong." Duo said with a small shrug.

Quatre had to admit that Duo was speaking the truth. Duo had been in quite a few relationships and always bounced back pretty fast from a break-up. But it had always been Duo breaking up with the other person, not the other way around.

But now Duo was walking next to him, with his hands shoved in his pockets. He looked quite calm and it worried Quatre a bit.

"But you said you could have loved Wufei. That's different right?" Quatre asked. He frowned. Last night Duo had said he cared a great deal about Wufei. What had changed overnight?

"Well, I guess I was wrong." Duo said.

Quatre looked at Duo and saw Duo was avoiding looking him in the eyes. With a sigh Quatre decided that perhaps it was better to talk about this later.

When he was about to make some comment about Duo's basketball training to lighten the mood a bit he heard his phone go off.

Duo raised an eyebrow at the very happy-go-lucky ringtone Quatre had. Because who would've thought any boy in the world would want 'Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance' by 'Berryz Koubou' found anywhere near their phone?

Quatre fished his phone out of his pocket, unaware of the look Duo was sending him, and saw he had a new message.

"_Hi,  
__I have heard some rumours.  
__C__ould you __pass__ by?  
__And p__ick up some food while you're at it.  
__Love, Cathy"_

Quatre rolled his eyes at the message that was so typically Catherine. The girl could be so demanding at times.

"Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance?" Duo looked at Quatre with a raised eyebrow. "Isn't that more of a girly song?" He asked with a smirk.

"Iria bet me for fifty Dollars that I wouldn't put it on." Quatre explained with a shrug.

"Who's the message from?" Duo asked as they started to walk again.

"Iria. She wants me to pick something up from the grocery store before I head home." Quatre said with a slight wave. He knew he was dodging the question but he was doing it for Duo's sake.

* * *

Quatre was now walking to the grocery store. He was grumbling about Catherine being Catherine.

The girl was quite irritated, and acted upon it. With his experience with so many women in the family, and how moody they were during their period, Quatre knew she had her period. The only difference was that she was really demanding, and it annoyed Quatre to no end.

But he would be lying if he said Catherine wasn't a good friend and Quatre didn't lie. Well, normally Quatre didn't lie.

It wasn't his intention to lie to Duo either. But the message he got from Catherine said she 'heard some rumours'. And Quatre could already guess what those rumours were.

The situation was very easy to explain. He had told Relena and Hilde Wufei had broken up with Duo and he hadn't made the girls vow not to tell anyone.

The entire school was bind to know by now what had happened. And it was common knowledge news travels fast. So surely someone would have mentioned it at the Café Catherine worked at.

Catherine knew better than to ask Duo to explain the situation to her so she just went for the second in line if she ever wanted to hear anything but the rumours.

But the person who was second in line wasn't all that happy with that.

Quatre sighed softly as he entered the grocery store. Most of the time when Quatre was having a bad day, things went from bad to worse. He just hoped today wasn't like that.

He made his way to aisle 5, soft drinks and matching snacks. He'd certainly get a very large chocolate bar on his way to the check-out. Maybe that would satisfy Catherine a bit.

But before doing that he had to decide if it was the Lays Potato Chips or the Nibb-it Sticks he was taking.

Suddenly something, or rather someone caught his eye.

On his right, approximately three meters away from him, stood Trowa Barton looking at different types of chocolate. Quatre raised an eyebrow at the boy. He was apparently having a hard time with choosing milk with nuts or white with cream chocolate.

He shot a quick look to the bags of chips in his own hands and decided he wasn't having that problem himself.

He just had to figure out which kind of chips Catherine liked.

He shot another look at Trowa and frowned. The jeans he was wearing looked a lot like the one Duo had bought the day they went shopping. He had given Quatre a hideous present he said Quatre deserved. Said present was a way-too-tight-for-a-man-to-wear leather pants waiting in Quatre's closet for the day it would be thrown away.

Trowa's skin looked quite the tanned colour too. Quatre remembered Catherine's skin was looking that same colour when she got back from her holiday.

And his eyes … 'Oh god no!'

Quatre stood baffled while a mini-Quatre was running circles inside his head shrieking loudly: "NOOOOO!" Suddenly the mini-Quatre stopped with a baffled expression still etched on his face and fell down onto his knees. On the 'floor' he started pulling out his hair in despair and began to scream incoherent.

All of a sudden the energy-drained mini-Quatre fell over, almost as if dead, and a small balloon supposedly his soul could be seen flying high and away.

Quatre let out a breath as he turned back towards the bags of chips in his hands with wide eyes.

'All right, I must've hit my head without realizing.' Quatre concluded and he shook his head. There could certainly not be another plausible reason as to why Quatre was thinking _that_ about a guy like Trowa Barton.

He shot one last look at Trowa before he decided he would just take both bags of chips and be done with it.

One moment he was walking away slowly and before he knew what had passed he was lying sprawled over the ground glaring at a little kid with teary eyes.

The child was fidgeting with his fingers and looking everywhere but at Quatre.

Quatre frowned and with irritation he noticed he had hurt his wrist slightly. He suppressed the urge to grab the kid's collar and hit him over the head.

"S-sir, I'm sorry." The little kid shuffled with his feet and bit his lip.

"Yes, you should be. You really need to watch where you're going." Quatre told the child in a very stern voice.

The kid's lower lip started to tremble and his eyes were filled with tears.

Quatre frowned at this and wondered why on Earth the child was going to cry. _He _was the one that was lying on the ground with a hurt wrist while the little kid was standing there trying to look as innocent as possible.

But almost as if it came out of nowhere a hand was placed onto the boy's shoulder. The boy looked up with a start and Quatre followed his look upwards to see to whom the hand belonged to.

Quatre had the urge to stand up, grab Trowa fucking Barton's collar and demand why the hell he wasn't standing in front of the chocolate bars minding his own business.

Trowa simply looked at him with a calm look on his face and said: "The boy apologized, so don't pester him."

Quatre glared at Trowa. The guy didn't know him, didn't know anything that had happened in the past few days and thus didn't understand that Quatre was in an extremely bad mood. But that didn't mean he couldn't be at least a bit considerate.

Because the guy apparently wanted to get to know Quatre. If Quatre had to believe his previous actions as the truth. And anyone who knew Quatre at least a little bit would know he was not a kind of person to be in a bad mood very often. So if he did have a bad mood, it was very bad indeed.

Quatre gritted his teeth in utter annoyance at Trowa's meddling. "Who do you think you are? Don't mind my affairs if you please." He told Trowa in a cold voice.

The other boy looked a bit taken aback but the look he had fixated on Quatre didn't waver as he spoke.

"This boy can't be any older than ten years old and you are scolding him because you have a bad mood."

Quatre still looked annoyed but the glare had vanished from his face. He was treating the boy a bit rude indeed

So with another glare sent towards Trowa he stood up. He tried to force a smile onto his face and with a slight nod told the boy: "I'm sorry for reacting like that."

And without another word or look he left the aisle to go pay for his things.

* * *

"Stupid." Quatre muttered to himself as he sauntered towards Catherine's apartment. He couldn't believe he had actually reacted like that.

Perhaps it was because a guy like Trowa had that kind of affect on him, or because it wasn't often that Quatre found his mind wandering off about another person than Duo.

Quatre sighed and shook his head. It was better to not dwell upon the bad things because it would probably worsen his mood.

A few minutes later he reached the apartment complex where Catherine lived. He rang the bell and just a few seconds later he could hear Catherine's cheery voice through the speaker.

"Hi, is it who I think it is?"

"Unless you have another male friend that's coming over just because you text him, it is. But we wouldn't want you cheating on me, now would we?" Quatre asked in a teasing tone.

Catherine laughed at hearing this. "Don't worry, I'm not cheating on you. Now come inside, the door is open."

Quatre opened the door and walked into the hallway. It wasn't too shabby. A red carpet that had some stains which couldn't be removed, a black couch and a plant that probably needed some water very soon.

He walked towards the elevator and waited for the elevator to come down. When the doors slid open he pulled up his nose at the obvious stench of beer.

It seemed as if the stench never left because every time he took the elevator it smelled like beer. It was just a slight plus the smell wasn't mixed with cigarette smoke.

He took a deep breath when he finally got out of the elevator at the fifth floor. Catherine, to his own surprise, was already standing in the doorway. She was waving at him with a big grin.

Quatre rolled his eyes and figured that if Catherine couldn't make his mood any better then no one probably could.

"Hi Cathy." He greeted his friend.

"Hello. You're quite fast today, I hadn't expected you for at least another hour." She said while she ushered Quatre inside.

Quatre, after having placed his schoolbag onto the ground, looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Well, bound to be home any minute and you always complain that you have to walk Duo all the way to his house when he's having trouble with one thing or another." She explained with a shrug.

"Cathy, Trowa is not in my class." Quatre answered. He wondered where she had gotten that information from, because her source was obviously wrong.

Catherine leaned against the wall of the hallway with a frown. "He's not? I figured since he's talking a lot about you and Duo he was."

"He talks about Duo and me?" Quatre asked, quite shocked at this new bit of information. He wondered why Trowa would ever talk about Duo and him.

He thought of a few possibilities before it clicked. "It's about the basketball, right?"

"Well, yes it is mainly about basketball. But since you don't play any kind of sports I just thought he had to know you from somewhere else too, you know."

Quatre shook his head with a laugh. Sometimes girls assumed things and took that for the truth. Catherine could be that kind of girl that never verified anything if she was given information that could be believable.

"I watch Duo practice basketball most of the time, remember?" Quatre asked and Catherine flushed.

"I forgot." She said as she brought a hand up to her cheek in a somewhat embarrassed gesture. "I'm sorry." She muttered.

Quatre laughed at her almost crestfallen expression. "It's not that big of a deal. Don't worry about it." Still smiling he showed the bags containing the chips to Catherine. "I've brought food."

Catherine squealed at the sight of something unhealthy to eat. "Wonderful!" She exclaimed with a grin as she led Quatre to the living room area.

* * *

When both Catherine and Quatre had settled down on the couch with a cup of tea Catherine turned towards Quatre with a questioning gaze. "So what happened?"

Quatre looked at his friend. Catherine was always very curious about what happened in peoples life's.

But Quatre wasn't a girl and thus didn't like to gossip very much. Or maybe that was just something personal. Either way, Quatre wasn't the kind of person to spill personal information about others just because it was supposedly "fun".

It wasn't that at the end of the day he hadn't told Catherine anything at all. He just wasn't going into tiny details.

"Wufei and Duo broke up?" Quatre asked with a shrug. He didn't really know what Catherine wanted to hear.

Catherine sighed dramatically as she rolled her eyes. "That's what I heard at the café, yes. But why?" She asked and pouted. "I thought things were going well."

"Yes, I did too. I guess everyone did, even Duo." Quatre said followed by a sigh.

"Then what went wrong?" Catherine asked and Quatre was slightly afraid if she wasn't getting a good answer soon she was going to whine.

"I don't know, Cathy. It's not as if Duo is a girl who's going to pour out his heart to me just because Wufei broke up with him." Quatre said with a shrug.

He really couldn't understand why girls would pour their hearts out to someone else anyway. Wasn't it embarrassing to do that?

Obviously, Catherine seemed to disagree with that as a frown appeared on her face.

"He must've been very upset. Have you spoken with him about it?" Catherine asked.

"Cathy, if you hadn't noticed yet I will help you figure it out. Duo is called gay for a reason. He's a guy, as am I." Quatre said, quite annoyed at the entire situation.

He loved Catherine, she was a great friend and always nice to talk to. The same went for Relena and Hilde. But the problem with them, and probably all the girls around, was that they tried to see everything from _their _point of view. But guys were a bit different. They simply didn't pour all of their worries out and wouldn't blabber and cry crocodile tears.

"What does being a specific gender have to do with it?" Catherine asked puzzled.

"I don't like to gossip, Catherine."

"You said my name. Sounds kind of scary coming from you, doesn't it?" Catherine remarked.

Quatre stared at her and sighed.

'And then they say guys have a short attention span.' He thought with a sigh

"Anyway, guys gossip too." Catherine pointed out.

"Yes, at least, most guys do. But I'm not the kind of person to stab people in the back by talking badly about them without them present." Quatre leaned over to grab his tea and took a sip.

Perhaps now that they had cleared that problem up they could have a normal conversation.

Catherine sighed and in defence of herself said: "I don't talk bad about people either, but I am a very curious person and therefore I talk about them."

Quatre simply laughed, grateful that Catherine had probably dropped the issue of Wufei's and Duo's breakup.

* * *

Unfortunately for Quatre, Catherine hadn't given up.

She had nagged him for over half an hour before she finally gave up.

With a sigh Catherine put her cup back onto the table. "I'll just ask Duo."

"As if he will tell you." Quatre said and snorted.

"Quatre, what is wrong with you today?" Catherine asked in a rather irritated voice.

Quatre looked at her with a frown. Was he in that much of a bad mood that even Catherine was getting irritated with him?

"You seem sulky somehow." Catherine continued.

"I'm just having a bad day."

"I noticed."

Quatre and Catherine both started as another voice joined in their conversation.

Catherine was the first to look up and recognize the person in the doorway. She smiled. "Hi Trowa."

Quatre grumbled as Trowa walked to the couch and leaned against the back of it.

Trowa caught the look Quatre send his way and looked at the blonde with a frown. "Do you have something against me?"

"No shit Sherlock." Quatre said with sarcasm and crossed his arms. It seemed as if Trowa was following him around and it wasn't brightening his mood by any means.

Catherine was very stunned at Quatre's reaction to her brother's words. "Quatre! Don't say such things. Seriously, what is wrong with you?"

Quatre glared at his friend and had to admit he felt like committing a murder right now. Maybe, to get rid of all the nagging, he should just be in a bad mood more often. Maybe then people would get used to it a bit.

"It's good you didn't look at the kid as you are looking at me now. You would've killed him." Trowa interrupted Quatre's thoughts.

"Wait, stop!" Catherine held up her hands as she looked from one boy to the other. Then she pointed a finger towards Trowa and said: "Don't be a brat."

After having said that she turned to Quatre and cocked her head to the side. "You explain what happened to make you all grumpy."

"You will leave me alone if I do?" Quatre asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, if that's what you want." Catherine rolled her eyes. "Now spill."

"Wufei broke up with Duo. He came to my house, keeping me up all night because he didn't want to go home. He's ignoring the fact he even _had_ a relationship with Wufei and I am the one who has to tell everyone what's going on."

At Catherine's questioning look Quatre simply rolled his eyes with a sigh.

"Hilde and Relena tortured answers out of me." He deadpanned.

Catherine simply grinned. She was probably imagining what that situation must have looked like.

But after a few seconds her look fell and she asked: "That's all?"

Quatre sighed. "Cathy, I'm a person. I haven's slept at all last night and my best friend is having trouble."

"I'd be in a bad mood too." Catherine admitted with a slight smile.

Quatre rolled his eyes and leaned against the back of the couch. At least Catherine would leave him alone for a few minutes now.

And she did, because she turned to Trowa with a grin on her face. "What about you? You made me think Quatre was your friend."

Trowa raised an eyebrow at that and smirked. "Too bad for you."

"Trowa! You're acting like an ass." Catherine complained loudly.

Trowa glared at his sister and in very irritated tone he said: "Don't boss me around, Cathy. Here's a chocolate bar to keep you calm for a while." He threw a chocolate bar towards Catherine and walked out of the room.

Catherine stared after her brother for a moment. Trowa and she got along most of the time but since a few days he was acting weird.

Well, she wouldn't worry about that today. Duo's break-up and Quatre's bad mood were enough to keep her busy.

She looked at Quatre and saw he was sitting cross-armed with a small pout. 'Yes,' she decided, 'those two boys are enough for now.'

TBC.

**Author's note:  
**Seriously, I love the song "It sucks to be me".  
And before any mad fans will screech I made Quatre totally OOC, think of yourself… If you hadn't had any sleep, your friend is being an ignorant ass and you've just been run over by a little annoying toddler, you would be pissed too. Well, I would.  
Anyway, enough nonsense. Please tell me what you thought of the chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

Warning and disclaimer: see first chapter.  
I apologise for taking so long to finish this chapter. It took so long before I finally got an idea and worked it out.  
Anyway, I do hope you like it and please be kind enough to leave a review after you've read it.

**Chapter 06**

I'll be there for you  
When the rain starts to pour  
I'll be there for you  
Like I've been there before  
I'll be there for you  
'Cuz you're there for me too...  
_Rembrandts – I'll be there for you_

It was a beautiful spring day. The sun was shining quite bright and the sky was coloured that nice blue which meant good weather. The trees were getting fuller with their green leaves but not enough to make a real shadow yet. Not that a shadow was needed with this kind of weather.

Sitting in the sun on a terrace was nice enough as it was. It would probably be a bit chilly if there was a shade falling over the table Quatre was sitting at.

Quatre closed his eyes for a moment to enjoy the sun shining onto his face. He loved spring. It wasn't too hot but warm enough that one could sit in the sun enjoying its warmth for a whole afternoon. The perfect season in his opinion.

With a smile he opened his eyes again and looked at the people walking past him in the hopes of recognizing someone. Not just someone, but a person with whom he had arranged a get-together with.

Because now-a-days it was, even for Quatre, quite hard to have a relaxing one-to-one talk with his friend Wufei.

He wasn't mad at Wufei, not at all. He was a bit disappointed but that was simply because he had thought Duo and Wufei were a great couple.

But Duo was still avoiding Wufei and Wufei was letting him. Hilde and Relena spent most of their time with Duo so Wufei was totally left out.

It was true that Duo was indeed a friend Quatre was closer to and he knew longer than Wufei. But Wufei was still his friend.

Wufei was a friend with whom he could enjoy books and music. A friend that he could have serious talks with about philosophical things like life. And most of the time Wufei was the kind of friend that sat next to him and enjoyed the silence together with a companion that was just as comfortable as he was.

It was a very different kind of friendship than the one he had with Duo. That friendship was always bubbling over with life, exciting and somewhat adventurous.

Duo's friendship was the one that kept him socializing with others and made him try new things. While Wufei's friendship was equal to an entire afternoon lazily sitting in a chair and enjoying the sun on your face.

"It's one of _those_ afternoons I see."

Quatre startled from his thoughts and looked up as he heard the legs of a chair scraping on the stone ground.

Wufei sat down next to the blonde onto the iron chair. He leaned his elbows onto the glass top of the table and smiled at his friend.

Quatre simply smiled at Wufei. "Not really. I was just enjoying the sun while waiting."

Wufei nodded in understanding. He cast a glance towards the table and asked: "Have you ordered yet?"

"No, not yet. I didn't know what to get you." Quatre said and leaned back in the chair. "How have you been?"

Wufei huffed softly at the question. "I've been fine." He answered. He smiled at Quatre's raised eyebrow. "Don't worry, I'm sure I'm fine." He said.

Quatre rolled his eyes at Wufei's reply. "That's what Duo said too." He muttered.

"I know I don't have any experience with an actual relationship, but isn't life supposed to be shit when you break up?" Quatre asked with a frown.

Wufei looked at Quatre with surprise. He hadn't seen that question coming. But then again, this was Quatre he was having a conversation with. He shouldn't have expected anything else.

"Since when have Duo and I fallen into the category 'normal'?" Wufei asked with a raised eyebrow.

Quatre just sighed. He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes while thinking of a good reply.

"Hello!"

Both Quatre and Wufei looked up as they heard the happy greeting.

Before their table stood a girl, a bit on the small side, with sandy coloured pigtails that curled up cutely at the end. She had sparkling blue eyes and freckles on her cheeks. She wore a black skirt that reached to her knees and a white blouse. It was then that Quatre noticed the tray she held in front of her.

"Hi." He said and Wufei simply nodded.

The girl smiled and said: "I'm Madison and I'll be serving you today. What can I get you?" She grinned and placed the tray on the table to retrieve a small notebook and a pen from a pocket in her skirt.

"Do you have Green Tea?" Wufei asked.

Madison nodded and scribbled it down. When she looked up she turned towards Quatre with a smile. "And what can I get you?"

"A cappuccino would be nice," he said with a smile.

The girl nodded with a grin. She looked at Quatre and winked. Then with a somewhat shy smile, told him: "I'll be right back with your order."

"She's cute." Wufei remarked the moment the girl had left their table to attend another. He shot Quatre a look and smirked when he saw Quatre flush.

Quatre coughed softly and looked back to the park again. "A bit."

Wufei's smirk widened at his friend's seemingly uncaring attitude. "She's casting a glance at you right now."

Quatre just snorted. "Right."

"No, I'm telling the truth for once. She _is _looking at you." Wufei said, sounding very smug.

Quatre looked at his friend, getting irritated. "Good for her."

"Wow, what's with that reaction?" Wufei raised an eyebrow at Quatre's somewhat harsh reaction.

Quatre simply sighed. "I'm not interested in a relationship right now."

Wufei frowned. He could easily see that was a lie. "Or you just don't know how to act around a girl who is openly showing interest in you."

"T-That's -"

Quatre broke off his defence when Madison walked towards them with a tray in her hands.

"A green tea," she said and placed the cup of tea in front of Wufei without any other looks whatsoever towards the black-haired man.

"And a cappuccino for you." She said with a big grin. She placed the drink in front of Quatre and winked.

"He could be gay for all you know." Wufei remarked dryly.

He smirked as Madison threw him a dirty look. Seemed like the girl wasn't as sweet as she was letting on.

Meanwhile Quatre was spluttering on how Wufei was just making assumptions and shouldn't really say things like that for his own amusement.

Madison turned back to Quatre and smiled. "Don't worry, I'll turn you straight."

All Quatre could do was stare at the girl in shock.

Meanwhile, Mini-Quatre was sitting in a white-boxed room with his mouth wide open and eyes wide. His pupils had turned to the size of pixels and if he didn't shut his mouth very soon his dinner would consist out of flies, flies and then some more flies.

Wufei was biting his lip in an attempt to not burst out in laughter. 'Hilarious,' he thought. 'The girl thinks she can flirt and Quatre is stupefied because of it.'

But being the only sensible person right now Wufei looked at the girl and waved his hand to get her attention. He smiled sweetly at her and said: "We'd like to pay."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "I'll be right back." She replied with a wry smile. After that she walked away, although Wufei would later claim it looked more like an elephant trampling through the woods.

Quatre let out a breath of relief as soon as Madison had left their table. He turned towards Wufei and smiled gratefully. "Thanks."

"Welcome. She was getting very annoying." Wufei said. He picked up his cup and took a sip. "But the tea is very good."

Quatre smiled but after that looked at his cappuccino a bit warily.

"What?" Wufei asked with a frown the moment he noticed Quatre's look. "I'm sure she didn't poison it to make you faint, drag you home and have her merry way with you."

"Wufei, don't put images in my head!" Quatre said with a laugh.

Wufei raised an eyebrow. "Images in your head? I never knew you had a dirty mind, Quatre." Wufei smirked as his friend's eyes widened in understanding.

"Oh." Was all Quatre said. He bit his lip in embarrassment and a slight blush adorned his cheeks.

Wufei, being the observant friend he was, immediately noticed. And being in the good mood he was, he wasted no time in pointing this fact out to Quatre. "Is that a blush I see, Quatre?"

"Wufei, shut up." Quatre glared at his friend. He didn't like being embarrassed like this. What he found more annoying though, was that Wufei seemed to enjoy himself very much while teasing him.

But because of his openly exposed embarrassed posture Quatre's blush grew larger. He cast a glance to Wufei in the hopes his friend hadn't noticed.

But Wufei had noticed and was very much intending on teasing Quatre about if for a bit.

Wufei had noticed Quatre had been having a bit of a rough time lately. Duo dragged Quatre everywhere since Wufei had broken up with him. And even though Quatre liked being around Duo, he also needed to relax once in a while.

Unfortunately Wufei never got the chance to embarrass Quatre about the bright blush, because Madison chose this moment to return to their table with the bill.

She was all smiles at Quatre and leaned towards him as she gave him the bill. "Here you go." She said. She paused for a moment and leant her head to the side as if in thought.

But then she grinned impishly and continued: "If you ever feel bored call me, okay? I wouldn't mind going out with you at all." She winked that and reached out to touch Quatre's face.

Meanwhile Quatre wanted to push her away, but thought it was quite rude to do that. So now he was thinking of polite ways to turn the girl down.

Wufei though, wasn't that afraid of coming across as rude. He was also very annoyed at the way the girl noticed Quatre was a shy type and seemed to take advantage of that. "You know, we'll just leave the money on the table. People over there," Wufei pointed towards a table where a young couple had just sat down and were looking around for a waitress, "are probably ready to be served."

The girl stood up straight with an embarrassed flush for being told off so rudely. She glared at Wufei and sneered: "Are you jealous?"

Wufei, to Quatre's and Madison's surprise, burst out laughing. The entire situation had already been quite humorous in his opinion, but this was just the wonderful.

Jealous of a girl flirting with Quatre? Quatre, who was a very good friend and his ex's best friend to top it off. Even if he would have liked Quatre any more than he did it would never have gone anywhere.

Wufei softly bit his lip in an attempt to stop his laughing. He felt his body shaking with laughter again as he saw the way Quatre was looking at him in complete astonishment.

Of course it was a rare sigh to see Wufei Chang of all people burst out in laughter, but anyone would in this kind of situation.

After a few more seconds Wufei took a deep breath and looked at Madison with a shit-eating grin on his face. "Yes, I am dying with jealousy right now."

All Madison did was glare. "Whatever." She said and with a last wink at Quatre walked away.

Quatre let out a breath of relief and smiled gratefully at Wufei. "Thanks."

"Oh you're welcome. But I don't think you minded that much." Wufei smirked.

"What are you talking about?" Quatre asked with a frown.

"If you seriously wanted her to go away, you would've said so. You're not a wimp." Wufei told him with a smug smile.

All Quatre did was chuckle with a light blush on his cheeks.

* * *

Quatre was standing by his locker getting his books for the next class ready when he heard whispers. Without taking much notice he continued what he was doing.

He wasn't the type of person to gather gossip or dirt on people and spread it around. In fact, people shouldn't mind business that wasn't their own in his opinion.

But when Quatre heard whispers that contained his name, he got curious.

Quatre hadn't done anything the past week that could be worth gossiping about. Most of the time when people gossiped about him he'd seen it coming. But not now. 'So what did I do?' He wondered.

To find out he had to listen in on their conversation, which he'd rather not do because he thought it was rude.

On the other hand, he wanted to know really badly. And if he didn't listen in on the conversation those girls on the other side of his locker were having, he was bound to find out later.

So Quatre ceased what he was doing and listened carefully to what the girls were saying.

"… no way, he wouldn't!"

"Na-uh, apparently he would. I was sooooo shocked when I heard it!"

"I understand. But how did you find out?"

"Well, I heard last night from Sheila, who heard from Ashley, whose brother is in the basketball-team with Heero."

"Hm, all right. But is it truly Heero? Are you sure you heard that right?"

"Yes, I'm sure. It's so… weird. I'd never have thought Heero could be that mean. I mean come on, Quatre is just such a cutie!"

"Yes he is! That hair and those eyes are so adorable! And Duo is such a good friend for him too. Catching his fall so he wouldn't fall down the stairs was so sweet of Duo!"

"Indeed. But it's just because they're boys I guess. But it was pretty mean of Heero to want Quatre to fall down the stairs."

"Yes, it certainly…"

But Quatre didn't hear anything else anymore. It took a few moments for the information to register in his mind.

It was an awfully shocking revelation for Quatre.

First there was this small voice that told him to never doubt Duo's words again. If a bag was shoved in front of someone's feet, it was.

Secondly, he couldn't believe someone was actually cruel enough to throw someone down the stairs. Even if that person was someone who you didn't get along with.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He needed to calm down a bit if he wanted to go to class. He grabbed his books and with his right hand he slammed his locker close.

When he walked to class his mind was going over things he could do with the information he just heard.

He was desperate for an explanation from Duo. Quatre didn't believe gossip if he hadn't checked it with someone first.

He bit his lip. He hoped this wasn't true, that it was all just meaningless gossip. It would most certainly be very favourable for Quatre's stress level.

Because Quatre knew that if you had a fight with Heero Yuy, it would drag on endlessly. Heero didn't give up unless things got totally out of hand. Quatre had been there once, and he sure as hell didn't want to go there again.

But if Heero had indeed shoved a bag in front of Quatre's feet with the intention to make him fall down the stairs and break something, it was a war Heero could expect.

Quatre wasn't simply going to sit and watch it all happen like a wimp and let Heero terrorize his friends and him just because he could faint at some point.

Heero had a problem with him, if he believed the rumours, and Quatre would make sure to get at the bottom of the thing.

* * *

Duo thought it was strange.

Quatre was a very good student, thus paid good attention when the teacher was explaining a subject.

But right now Quatre was spacing out, drawing figures on his paper instead of taking notes. It unnerved Duo a bit to see his friend act so strange. He wondered if he should ask Quatre what was wrong.

Now he thought about it, it was only the last hour or so Quatre's mind seemed preoccupied with something else than school.

With a frown Duo bit on the end of his pencil. He knew that Quatre had spent the afternoon with Wufei yesterday.

But Wufei hadn't left class, so he couldn't have talked to him about something. Duo sighed. He would just have to ask Quatre what was wrong if he wanted an answer.

What Duo didn't know, was that he didn't even need to ask. Because after class Quatre confronted Duo with what he had heard.

When the students were leaving class to go home Quatre walked to Duo's desk. Duo was trying to fit all of his books in his bag. He looked up at Quatre as his friend leaned against the desk next to his.

"Hi,"

"Hi yourself." Quatre said. But he wasn't grinning like he usually did when greeting Duo.

Duo frowned. "Quatre, is something wrong?"

Quatre sighed as he looked at Duo. "I heard some disturbing things before class."

Duo was a bit shocked to hear this. What could Quatre possibly have heard that had disturbed him? There hadn't happened anything drastic in the last couple of days that Duo could think of. Well, there was him falling down the stairs but there wasn't any way Quatre could have found out about it, right?

"So what did you hear?" Duo was a bit anxious for the answer.

"It's about you falling down the stairs." Quatre bluntly said. He pulled out a chair and sat down. He bit his lip softly and looked at Duo again.

Meanwhile, Duo had paled considerably and looked quite shocked. He couldn't grasp how Quatre had found out and feared his reaction because of it.

Quatre also noticed Duo's unease, but continued as if he didn't. "You never told me you were catching my fall, Duo."

Duo swallowed and looked away from Quatre. "Well…"

"Why didn't you?"

"I didn't think it was very important." Duo said.

Quatre looked at his friend as if he'd gone insane. "You didn't think it was important?" He asked in a _very_ angry voice. He didn't understand how Duo could think it as a trivial matter. Unless…

"You were afraid I'd faint." He accused Duo.

Duo looked down in shame. He understood that Quatre was a bit angry. Quatre always claimed that he didn't want to be treated any different than any other person just because he had a weak heart. And Duo, his best friend, was now one of the few that had treated him different. Duo understood that was quite unforgivable.

"Quatre, I'm sorry." He whispered softly.

"As you should be. Honestly Duo, I hadn't expected this from you." Quatre scolded his friend. He felt somewhat betrayed by Duo's action of not telling him.

"I know. It's just that Heero has always been a sensitive subject for you to discuss. The two of you just don't get along anymore, that is obvious. But I didn't want to hurt you a lot by telling you that he threw a bag in front of your feet in an attempt to make you fall down the stairs."

Duo was almost beyond desperate to make Quatre see things from his point of view right now.

He knew he had betrayed Quatre's trust. He knew he should have told the moment he and Quatre were at the Nurse. But right now he was regretting the decision of keeping the information to himself and wanted Quatre to forgive him.

While Duo was reflecting on his actions, Quatre was thinking about things too.

He was angry that Duo hadn't told him. But on the other side he could understand his reasons too.

Perhaps there was also the reason that Heero and he weren't the best of friends anymore. They had once been but that was one friendship that hadn't made it out alive.

Quatre sighed. Duo had been very right by saying Heero was a sensitive subject. Quatre always felt agitated whenever a discussion was about Heero again. But that was just an attendant circumstance when a friendship was broken by betrayal.

But Heero's betrayal had been a lot worse than anything Duo could ever do to him.

And it wasn't as if Duo wasn't affected by Heero's and Quatre's broken friendship. Duo had been a friend of Heero too.

But when Heero, in a pissed off mood, had made Duo choose between Heero's or Quatre's friendship, Duo had laughed bitterly.

'I've known Quatre since kindergarten; we've been through almost everything together. What in the world made you think I'd choose you above him?'

Duo had been so angry that he hadn't spoken to Heero for an entire week. He'd even considered leaving the Basketball-team for Quatre's sake.

Quatre had protested loudly at hearing that. Duo belonged in the Basketball-team, no questions asked.

It had been quite tough on Duo the first few weeks. He had to sit on the bench for quite a few matches. Until Zechs stepped up and told Heero this certainly wasn't the way to treat one of their best players.

After that things gradually went back to normal. The only thing out of the ordinary was the fact Heero and Quatre didn't speak to each other anymore.

With a sigh Quatre shook his head. That was a long time ago.

He looked at Duo and smiled sadly. He'd never lose Duo the same way he had lost Heero.

"Hey Duo?" Quatre called out.

Duo startled out of his thinking and looked at Quatre, a bit shocked. "Y-Yes?"

Quatre laughed at Duo's uncertain tone. "It's all right. I'll do my very best to forgive you. Perhaps, for a milkshake or two you can even make me forgive you before it turns dark."

Duo looked at Quatre with a baffled expression. He couldn't understand he was getting off this easy. "No way." Duo said softly and looked at Quatre in unbelief. "You're forgiving me just like that?"

Quatre laughed cheerfully at Duo's astonishment. "You'll have to buy me a milkshake first. And you'll have to morally support me when I'm going to have a talk with Heero."

Duo was a bit surprised at hearing this. He hadn't expected Quatre to just sit by and do nothing, but he hadn't expected this either.

But Duo nodded nonetheless. He'd support Quatre if it meant he would have to kill Heero in cold blood. No wait, he'd have to think about _that _first.

"So when are you going to talk to Heero?" Duo asked.

"Right before we're going to get our milkshakes."

Duo swallowed. He was getting a very bad feeling about this. "And that is… ?"

"Right now."

Duo's eyes widened in shock and he gasped. A very bad feeling indeed.

**TBC.**


	7. Chapter 7

Warning and disclaimer: see first chapter.  
I've decided that I'm not going to stick with "7 pages each chapter" anymore. It's just not for me and it takes ages to update like that. So you'll find that sometimes chapters will be shorter but sometimes also longer.

**Chapter 07**

It's the black clouds over your head  
It's the monsters under your bed  
As tragic as this might seem  
We can't escape the bad things  
You know what that means  
_Adema – Black Clouds_

Quatre was irritated. No scratch that, he was furious.

After the conversation he had with Duo the two of them had left immediately to find Heero.

Well, Quatre had left immediately and had expected Duo to follow him. But when he looked over his shoulder and didn't see his friend anywhere he felt irritated.

He walked back with angry strides and found Duo still sitting in the classroom. When Quatre entered Duo looked up and bit his lip softly.

Quatre looked at his friend with a frown but didn't speak. He simply waited in the door-opening for Duo to grab his bag and walk towards him.

Refusing to budge Duo stayed where he was and looked at his friend warily. "I'm not so sure whether it's smart to visit Heero right now."

"Why not?" Quatre asked with a frown. He was getting impatient.

"Shouldn't you think it through first?" Duo looked a bit worried now.

"Why would I think it over if the result is going to be the same?"

"Quatre…" Duo trailed off and looked his friend in the eye. He really didn't want to go with Quatre to seek out Heero right now.

"You really do think Heero will kick you out of the team, don't you?"

"Well, he could, and I really don't want to risk that." Duo said and looked down with shame and regret.

Basketball was a big part of Duo's life. He enjoyed doing it and was very good at it too.

Competition was also starting again soon. He had been very excited to hear that scouts were coming to watch the matches. He had been dreaming of a scholarship for such a long time that he wasn't going to give up on that.

Meanwhile Heero knew very well that if he wanted to hurt Duo he had to get back at him where it hurt most. Basketball.

Kicking Duo out of the team wasn't the only thing he could do. Duo's parents weren't rich. His mom didn't work and Bob most certainly didn't earn a million a year. They couldn't pay for an expensive university. So if Duo wanted to go to university and play basketball, he needed a scholarship.

"I'm not scared that he's going to kick me out of the team. I'm a good player." Duo muttered.

"Then what?" Quatre didn't intend to sound as rude as he did, but he really wanted to have a word with Heero before the boy went home.

"He'll put me on the bench for the next few games. Perhaps that's even worse than kicking me out." Duo continued dejectedly.

Quatre sighed. He could have guessed this was Duo's reason for not wanting to come with him. But Duo had promised him he would. He shouldn't have promised if he didn't want to keep his promise.

It was obvious Duo loved basketball, but in Quatre's opinion he was just blowing the situation out of proportion.

"Heero won't put you on the bench. Getting a scholarship himself is way too important to him." Quatre said.

Duo looked away from Quatre again. Quatre _was_ right though. He sighed. He just didn't want to go to Heero with Quatre. But –

"You did promise, Duo." Quatre said. Duo was overreacting in his opinion.

Duo heaved a sigh and looked at his friend. "Fine. I always keep my promises. But if Heero kicks me out of the team, you're going to have to get me in again."

Quatre tried to hide his self-satisfied smirk as he said: "sure".

* * *

That was now ten minutes ago. Quatre was currently standing on the basketball-field with Duo. He was looking straight in the annoyingly green eyes of Trowa Barton. A guy he was ready to kill right now.

Not only was Trowa sticking his nose into someone else's business again, he also had just told Quatre he didn't have a clue as to where Heero was.

That didn't make Quatre a happy man.

"You seem to think I'm his puppy and follow him around everywhere." Trowa complained with a frown and crossed arms.

Quatre smirked as he asked: "Well, aren't you?"

Trowa huffed and looked at Quatre. "Everyone says you're such a nice guy, but I think you're just rude."

Quatre raised an eyebrow at Trowa's statement. He thought Quatre was rude?

'Well, I can be somewhat rude sometimes. But that's mostly when I'm in a bad mood.' Quatre thought.

Did he really care that a guy like Trowa thought he was rude anyway?

Quatre looked at Trowa and saw the smug look on his face. The guy stood there, quite happy with himself.

A typical popular jock that probably thought he stood above Quatre and three quarters of the rest of the student body.

'No,' Quatre decided, 'I really don't care.'

He smirked at Trowa and said: "You think I care? You could think I was as stupid as the behind of a donkey and I wouldn't care. You want to get closer to me and be friends? For as far as I'm concerned, you should just stick with Heero." Quatre finished with a sneer.

"I think I'm getting an understanding of why Heero dislikes you so much." Trowa said with a glare.

Quatre was taken aback by Trowa's remark. He glared at the boy in front of him.

Yes, Trowa Barton was a strange boy that didn't mind his own freaking business for sure. On top of that Trowa Barton was a lucky boy who happened to pick a fight with the one guy that wanted to rip his head off of his torso, but couldn't due to his medical situation.

Quatre was already angry when he went to find Heero and Trowa wasn't helping his mood very much.

And what was it with Trowa and his interest in Heero and Quatre anyway? The boy knew nothing at all and could only guess about what the situation was.

"You don't know anything." Quatre hissed through gritted teeth.

Trowa was surprised at the underlying anger and annoyance of Quatre's voice.

Duo was staring at his friend with surprise. Who would've thought Quatre with his blond hair and innocent aqua-blue eyes could act like this?

'If he isn't careful he will faint…' Duo thought worriedly. But he left that though for what it was, because Quatre wouldn't want him thinking like that.

But unknown to Duo, Quatre's heart was racing. Quatre took a deep breath in an attempt to calm his racing heart.

He knew things would go down-hill if this continued any longer. He also started to doubt now if this was the right time to seek out Heero.

And there was the horror outcome that he'd faint if he got too angry or upset. That was the last thing he wanted to happen.

But Trowa couldn't guess Quatre wanted to just turn around and go home. For God's sake, Trowa didn't even know Quatre had a weak heart!

But Trowa knew he had Quatre all riled up and he was curious.

He looked at Quatre again and with a frown started: "But Heero and you -"

"Are none of your concern Trowa."

Trowa looked up in shock at hearing the comment. He paled and swallowed as he turned around.

Duo looked away from Trowa to see Heero standing next to the bleaches. He shot a worried look to Quatre. He had a very bad feeling about this.

While Trowa was worrying about his own well-being and Duo over that of his friend, Quatre felt his heart speed up.

This was it, it was now or never. Heero was looking straight at him now, as if to challenge Quatre to speak.

Quatre took a deep breath and looked down to the ground, thus breaking Heero's stare efficiently. 'What should I do?' Was the panicked thought that shot through his head.

Both Heero and Trowa would think of him as a coward if he backed out now. And even though Quatre didn't care people disliked him, he didn't want to be seen as weak.

On top of that, he would be letting himself and Duo down if he didn't do anything now.

But Quatre's chance to choose what to do was roughly taken from him.

Taken away with cold cobalt eyes and a sneering voice. "Cat caught your tongue now I'm here?"

Quatre's head snapped up again and he glared at Heero. He knew the boy was provoking him. And he also knew that because of his own pride he wouldn't back down.

"Quatre,"

Quatre turned back slightly as he heard the hushed voice of his friend.

Duo shook his head vigorously as their eyes caught.

But Quatre simply gave his friend a small smile.

Duo understood immediately and sighed. Quatre had to do this. He had to get this off of his chest. He needed to do this because Quatre simply wasn't the kind of person to stand by and do nothing.

All Duo could do now was hope that he didn't have to explain to Quatre's father why his son had fainted while on the basketball field.

"I was merely thinking of a polite greeting." Quatre said as he sent a cold look to Heero.

While Quatre would never get violent, he could come up with some nasty comments if he wanted to. Because if you can't defend yourself with your fists like most boys did, you simply had to do it with words.

"Yes, because you're such a polite and well-raised boy, now aren't you?" Heero sneered as he walked closer to Quatre.

Quatre sighed. Heero had always been the kind of person to hit you below the belt.

The way Quatre was raised wasn't one Quatre would ever wish upon his own children. Although the chance of Quatre ever having children was pretty slim.

Back when Heero and Quatre were still friends Quatre had always complained to Heero with a lot of sighs that his father just didn't understand him.

Quatre had always disliked the fact his father and he didn't get along as most boys did with their father. Heero knew about this.

Quatre closed his eyes with a grim expression. Heero could be so utterly crude sometimes. It made him wonder why they had ever been friends to begin with.

But Quatre wouldn't be put down. "I like to think I turned out well, yes." He spoke carefully.

Because with Heero he had to watch out what he said. He had to make sure Heero couldn't twist his words into something he hadn't meant or hadn't said.

"But I didn't come here to have a nice chat with you on how my parents raised me." Quatre said.

He took a deep breath as he heart sped up again. This was the moment it all came down to. Now he would tell Heero he didn't appreciate the fact he had tried to throw Quatre down the stairs.

All he had to do now was stay calm. Quatre resisted the urge to sigh. What had he gotten himself into?

Heero frowned for a moment and Quatre took this as the chance.

"Just a little question though, it's nothing big." Quatre started with a smirk. "I was just wondering if you always shove people down the stairs when they don't reach your liking."

Heero seemed a bit taken aback by what Quatre said and Quatre was grateful.

Because even though Quatre appeared to be smirking on the outside, a battle was going on in his head.

He was so afraid right now things would go wrong. Heero was a strong person and if he hit Quatre… he heaved a sigh and glanced at Duo.

At least Duo knew that Quatre had Iria under speed-dial just in case. Duo would call her for sure when Quatre was slowly waking up at the infirmary.

"No, I reserve that right for a special someone." Heero sneered and looked at Quatre.

"And your aim was off so much you threw Duo off the stairs instead of me." Quatre faked a sigh and shook his head with a smirk. "Geesh, that's just pathetic Heero."

Quatre could hear Duo gasp and Trowa mutter something so soft he couldn't make out words. What he did hear very clearly was Heero's growl.

Quatre was getting a bit nervous now. Heero looked really pissed off and Quatre wasn't even halfway with what he wanted to tell the boy.

But he didn't have the chance to think about his next step.

Heero took a few steps forward until he was standing almost nose-to-nose with Quatre. "Don't worry, next time I will make sure _you_ break something."

"Heero, stop this." Duo suddenly interjected. He sounded very angry as he his gaze flickered from Quatre to Heero.

Heero simply looked at him with a glare. "Duo, don't mind my business."

"Quatre is my business. You get away from him or I'll make you." Duo growled.

"Afraid _something_ will happen?"

Duo gritted his teeth at Heero's remark. Heero knew Duo was worried about Quatre. That Duo was afraid Quatre would faint.

Quatre knew that Duo was right to worry. Because his heart was racing and he was getting a bit dizzy with excitement. He needed to end this now.

He took a deep sigh and looked at Heero again. "Let's get this over with then before anything does happen." He said with a smug look on his face.

"I think you're acting like a spoiled little kid when it comes to Relena. I'd never like her the way you do and you know it. You should just leave her, and Duo for that matter, alone about who they hang out with. I'm not going to put ideas in their head to kill you in your sleep."

Quatre took a deep breath but continued before Heero could even utter a word.

"Everyone knows we don't get along. Just don't bother my friends with it. And if you ever try to throw me down the stairs again -"

"Shut up, I've had enough." Heero growled.

Quatre gulped. Now he'd done it. The moment Heero pulled back his arm, to hit Quatre in the face without a doubt, he had lost it.

Before he could take another breath he was overtaken with dizziness. The look of rage on Heero's face was the last thing he saw before his knees buckled and everything turned black.

**TBC.**


	8. Chapter 8

Warning and disclaimer in first chapter.  
Well, I've been on vacation and as you can see I've been writing! I hope you like this chapter and give me some feedback on the story if you can! Enjoy…

**Chapter 08**

His head hurt, his limbs ached slightly and he felt too tired to even open his eyes.

Opening his eyes would also mean Duo would start rambling worriedly Duo would say he shouldn't leave his room in the next few weeks, and never talk to Heero ever again and inform Quatre that he had called Iria.

This would result in Iria calling his father, his father risking his life while driving through heavy traffic to shake him until he had woken up and then tell him he would never see a ray of sunshine ever again.

Yes, Quatre was very much screwed if he woke up now.

Unfortunately for Quatre, Duo wasn't the kind of person you could trick very easily. He had noticed immediately Quatre was awake.

Quatre didn't realize it though. So he was rather startled when he felt a finger poke his right cheek.

"You can pretend to be asleep, but you still have a lot of shit to deal with when you decide to wake up. Why not get it over with?"

He heard Duo's voice. 'Strange,' he wondered, 'why does he sound amused?'

Quatre's relief to his friends' amusement was that at least his father, and possibly Iria too, hadn't arrived yet.

But did that encourage him enough to open his eyes and stop hiding like a little kid in a closet? No, it certainly didn't. Much to Duo's annoyance.

"Quatre, don't be a brat." He said as he pushed Quatre against his shoulder.

With a sigh Quatre opened his eyes and blinked. Why did all those hospital-like rooms have such bright lights?

"Finally." Duo said as Quatre sat up.

Quatre looked at his friend, trying to look apologetic for ignoring him and failing miserably. "Hi," he muttered instead.

Duo smiled. "Hi. That was quite the scare, now wasn't it?" Duo muttered, sounding relieved.

"No, not really. I had the feeling things were going to end like this five minutes before they indeed did." Quatre replied with a grin. He already felt better.

"That's not what I meant." Duo laughed and pushed Quatre playfully.

"I know. Just thought it was the best answer to such an obvious question."

"Hmm, I'll say." Du grinned but after a moment said: "I called Iria by the way."

"Oh, and?" Quatre asked, although he already knew the answer.

Duo shook his head. "Not amused."

"I wonder why." Quatre muttered in a sarcastic tone. "What about my father?" He suddenly wondered.

"He keeps ringing. Next time you can pick up yourself." Duo said and Quatre cringed.

It did mean that his father couldn't come. Which was of course true since he was out of town.

At least his father couldn't yell at him and throw threats about not leaving the house.

Now he could yell over the phone and let Iria lock him up. "Such a bright future." Quatre muttered to himself.

But the only person he had to thank for said future was himself of course.

"You could always blame Heero." Duo remarked smugly. "He _was_ about to hit you when you fainted."

Duo snickered as he thought back to it. "Should've seen their faces. Trowa, poor guy, almost had a heart attack and Heero looked ghostly pale."

"And you were panicking." Quatre finished for him. He didn't feel bad for Heero and Trowa at all. For all he knew, they got what was coming at them. Heero should've known that.

Quatre sighed softly as he now realized Trowa would be really be curious of the situation now. Not that it mattered. Quatre wasn't planning to tell him anything anytime in this lifetime.

"Well, it had been a while since you decided to faint." Duo defended himself against Quatre's statement.

"Yes, yes. Thanks for carrying me here by the way." Quatre said with a smile.

He didn't expect Duo to fidget with his fingers and suddenly refuse to look him in the eye when he said it though.

"What?" Quatre asked.

"Ah, well… I didn't carry you here. You were too heavy." Duo answered in a whisper. He knew Quatre would rather not have his body moved when unconscious. So if he had to be moved to a bad, chair, anything, it'd better be by someone he trusted completely.

"I couldn't lift you. And then Trowa offered -"

"Trowa?" Quatre sighed. Who else? Heero probably wouldn't have done it.

"It's all right Quat. He just wanted to help. Besides…" Duo said with a smirk, "I made sure he didn't touch any inappropriate places."

"You what!" Quatre asked with widened eyes. He was kind of shocked that Duo would say such a thing, certainly about Trowa!

"Was that even necessary?"

"Well, the worried glint he had in his eyes whenever he looked at your face was quite endearing." Duo grinned.

Trowa had lifted Quatre gently off of the ground, afraid of hurting the unconscious boy for sure. Duo had been shocked to see the other boy look at Quatre's face with worry in his eyes. It was quite unusual for Trowa to express anything besides blank. But now he had looked worried and the way he carried Quatre, bridal-style, was very careful. As he said, it was endearing. But one could wonder what it meant.

No, he wasn't telling lies. Trowa had been sincerely worried about Quatre. It showed Duo that perhaps Trowa's intentions weren't as bad as Quatre and he believed. But he wasn't going to tell that to Quatre.

Meanwhile Quatre sighed softly at hearing that Trowa was worried about him.

Not that he could blame the other. It was quite a shock to see someone that was right in front of you faint. And perhaps it was kind of nice of him to carry his dead weight into the nurse's room.

"I guess I should thank him." Quatre muttered, not sounding very happy about that fact.

"You guess? You should." Duo reprimanded Quatre. In his opinion it would be really unfair if Quatre didn't thank the other guy.

"Yes, I should." Quatre said, but after a moment added with a mutter: "tomorrow."

* * *

Iria felt like a woman that was about ready to hit, kill or yell at something.

She also suddenly understood why sometimes a man got annoyed with a woman when being around her for a long period of time. She would get annoyed with herself too it she'd have to be with herself for days.

And annoyed was exactly the right word to describe her current mood. Annoyed and definitely not amused.

But it wasn't herself she was annoyed with. No, it was her younger brother who had begged to go to school instead of being home-schooled. The same brother that had a weak heart and couldn't get too excited. Too bad his best friend's middle name seemed to be "excitement".

Yes, Iria was very annoyed with said brother. But not because he had fainted and she had to pick him up. No, that had happened more often.

She was annoyed that he chose _today_ to faint. The exact day she was on a date with the most handsome and funny man she had ever gone out with.

Unfortunately, said handsome man had told her, just before she left, that he was going to move to France in a few days and was only looking for some fun for his last few days.

No, Iria couldn't possibly be more annoyed with the entire world as she was now.

Quatre, unfortunately for himself, didn't know that. He was still in the delusion that Iria would come in relieved that he was all right.

So when Iria opened the door, pointed at him and said annoyed: "You just ruined my good day!" Quatre could only be surprised.

It was only an hour later that he finally understood what she meant with those words. Nothing that bad apparently.

Before describing some events that happened in said 'past hour' it is necessary to state a fact first.

Iria winner doesn't like Heero Yuy, not in any way.

In her opinion he was a rude young man. That alone wouldn't be enough reason to dislike someone as much as she did Heero.

That he betrayed her brother would though. That is another fact. _That_ actually happened.

Which is why Iria Winner doesn't like Heero Yuy for a bit.

* * *

Fifty-five minutes ago, when Iria's annoyance had almost disappeared at the sight of her brother looking very surprised and sitting in a bed, she had demanded to know what had happened.

Quatre started stuttering, not really knowing how to explain the situation, when Duo came to his rescue.

"It wasn't Quatre's fault!" Duo cried out in an attempt so safe his friend. An attempt that seemed to help as Iria turned towards him with a raised eyebrow.

"Was it your fault then?" She asked and wouldn't be surprised if that turned out to be true.

But a bit to her surprise Duo shook his head and on an accusing tone said: "It was Heero."

Iria looked shocked for a moment before she said: "That bastard?" She sighed and turned to Quatre. "Are you all right?" She asked gentler now.

"Yes. I just wanted to tell Heero something when it kind off got out of hand." Quatre answered.

"And what, may I ask; did you want to tell Heero?" Iria asked, not fully understanding the situation.

Quatre shot a glance at Duo and saw his friend shrug. Because he could either tell the truth or decide to give a bit of a Romanticized version of it. Just to make it sound better. But that would be just as bad as lying, Quatre decided. So he would tell the truth. Or at least a big part of it.

"I wanted, and did, to tell him he was a bastard. That if he has issues with me, he settles scores with me instead of with my friends." He said a bit angrily and gestured to Duo.

"I think I am missing something." Iria muttered as she looked from Quatre to Duo.

"A few days ago Duo fell down the stairs…" Quatre started another explanation.

"Yes," Iria remembered Quatre talking about the incident, "he tripped."

"Yes, over a bag which Heero shoved in front of his feet." Quatre finished bitterly. He hated Heero for having done that.

"Seriously?" Iria was shocked. How could anyone want to do that? Especially Duo, who was in the basketball-team with Heero nonetheless!

"But what he actually meant was for you to fall down, Quatre." Duo pointed out. He wanted Iria to know the truth, the real one and not just the version Quatre was willing to tell.

Iria was shocked. She had to suppress the urge to burst out yelling and cursing about Heero Yuy. She wanted to think about ways to kill the boy, or at least make him disappear so that he would never get to Quatre ever again.

But she wasn't raised to curse. And committing crimes such as murder and abduction, or have someone do it for you, aren't legally allowed.

But she would find a way to get back at Heero for his actions later. Perhaps her father knew something.

* * *

After the revelation Quatre had been the one that was annoyed.

Iria had accused him of withholding information from her. She hadn't liked that very much.

Then Iria had said she would find a way to make sure Heero didn't ever do anything to him again.

It was meant as a comment to make Quatre feel better. Instead he paled and a bit offended said: "I'm not five yeas old and this isn't kindergarten! I can take care of myself Iria."

Iria looked at him with a stern look. "No you can't." She scolded. "The moment you do that you faint."

Quatre sighed in frustration. He loathed conversations like this with Iria. She would always want the best for him and Quatre didn't want that.

Quatre understood that she was worried about him, but sometimes she didn't act as his sister anymore and Quatre hated it when she did. "Just stop acting like you're my mother." He muttered softly.

Iria was taken aback for a few seconds. Certainly Quatre didn't think she was trying to replace their mother? She felt kind of sad that he did.

All she ever wanted to do was look out for Quatre. But it was probably because he had a weak heart she took it a little too far sometimes.

She looked down at her hands. Was now the right time to apologize? She didn't really know. She wasn't really sorry for treating Quatre like that.

Luckily for Iria, she didn't have to do anything other than look up with a frown as Duo mumbled softly and shuffled his feet.

This also alerted Quatre who looked at his friend, a bit startled perhaps. He had almost forgotten his friend was in the room during his conversation with Iria. "What?" he asked, not having heard Duo's words clearly.

Duo looked from Iria to Quatre and bit his lip softly. Perhaps the two of them didn't notice, but Duo was almost chocking on the uncomfortable air that was wafting through the room, filling it almost completely. And he was getting nervous because of it!

"It's about time I go home." He muttered as he finally let his look rest on Quatre.

Quatre smiled. He was grateful that Duo had spoken up. He was getting nervous because Iria hadn't responded to his reproof yet. It was quite the bomb he had dropped on her, even he had to admit that. And with Duo in the room! Normally he would've never done that but right now he was just so frustrated with the entire situation.

He sighed. It was about time he got home and played some violin to calm himself down and collect his thoughts. Perhaps it was even better if the talk with Iria was put on hold for the rest of the afternoon.

"Yes, it's about time we all go home." Quatre eventually said and Iria was very fast to agree with him, relief showing clearly on her face.

Duo grinned and with a cheeky grin asked: "So, could you give me a ride home?"

Iria laughed and shrugged. "Fine with me."

Quatre's mood also brightened considerably. He smiled widely as he looked at Duo. "Then I get to see Chloe again." He said happily

Duo grinned at Quatre's reaction to the fact his friend was going to see his little sister. Quatre simply adored the girl and spoiled her rotten whenever he got the chance. He always bought little toys or candy for her and Chloe loved it.

Since Duo and his family weren't as wealthy as Quatre's was, it was nice to know the girl was spoiled sometimes. Even if it was by someone that wasn't family.

"It's so funny to see that you adore her so much." Iria giggled as she saw the excited look on her brother's face.

"Why?" Quatre sort-of whined. "You were like that when I was born, I saw videos!" He defended himself. How could he help it that he was fond of a sweet three-year-old with big violet eyes and dirty-blonde hair?

They bickered on for a few moments when the nurse walked in. She looked somewhat shocked to see so much going on in the room but relieved Quatre had woken up.

She had shooed them out and the trio made their way to Duo's house pretending as if nothing had happened.

Now there were only a few things left to do Quatre really didn't want to think about.

Talk with Iria, which would turn out to be not that bad after all.

Call his father, which wasn't all that bad either. The man was grateful enough that his son was all right.

Thank Trowa. This would prove to be difficult, annoying and quite embarrassing. Because, it was a situation in which you, a male that was unconscious, were carried by another male that, according to your best friend, was _very_ worried about you…

Well, how could that not be embarrassing?

**TBC.**


	9. Chapter 9

Warning and disclaimer in first chapter.

**Chapter 09**

Iria Winner was not a push-over. She was headstrong, perhaps even stubborn. There was only one person in the world who could get through that stubbornness without even trying too hard.

Quatre was relieved he was that person. It had saved him many times from very different types of scolding and punishments.

Even now, after explaining what had happened to his sister she simply couldn't stay angry with him longer than an hour.

So all in all it hadn't turned out to be a shouting-match ending with lots of bloodshed. Quatre had to admit he was very relieved the police didn't have to get involved with this argument.

* * *

Quatre was very irritated.

Scratch that, if this was going to continue any longer than it already was he would probably be in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

Quatre closed his eyes and sighed. Sometimes he hated girls.

"You're not getting out of telling us what happened."

"Yes, down to the last detail."

Quatre sighed again and with reluctance he opened his eyes. He looked straight into blue eyes that seemed to contain a hint of curiosity and excitement.

The eyes belonged to the girl sho had been getting on his case about the 'incident with Heero Yuy' the entire morning. She had every right to do so actually.

Quatre was her friend and Heero her currently-on-hold-boyfriend.

Hilde simply tagged along because she was curious about what exactly had happened to get Heero to avoid Quatre and no-one dared to talk about it behind his back.

It was Catherine's her living-room they were currently occupying so it was understandable she was present.

She was simply watching though, and judging from the grin on her face, she was very amused by the situation.

Quatre was not amused at all.

"Quatre, come on! Just tell us already, it's going to come out anyway. I mean, we're in high-school!" Relena tried to pry an answer out of Quatre.

Quatre closed his eyes. He almost felt as if he had made a mistake by coming here.

He should've known the moment he had received Cathy's text something was out of order. Especially since the text said:

"_Hi Quatre,  
I need to talk to you.  
It's urgent.  
Come by after school?  
Love, Cathy"_

Quatre, panicked that maybe something might've happened, texted back he would stop by. Now, he regretted it dearly though.

Quatre wouldn't mind talking with Catherine about what had happened. Catherine was a good friend and she deserved to know what had happened. And there was also the fact that Trowa was Catherine's brother. Quatre would much rather tell her what happened than her hearing Trowa's version of the story.

And Quatre wouldn't mind telling Relena and Hilde what had happened, no not at all. The reason he didn't want to do it right now was because he was certain the entire school would know it within the day.

It was high-school he was attending after all.

"Quatre?"

Quatre looked up to see Catherine smiling at him.

"If you don't want to tell us, we'll wait until you are ready to do so." She said quietly.

Quatre smiled.

Because Catherine didn't particularly like gossiping, and most of the time she took pity on Quatre when he became the subject again. Now was such a moment.

She was curious about what had happened, and how it could've happened. But she also knew Quatre needed to get his thoughts straight first before he could answer their questions.

Quatre nodded his head gratefully at Catherine's suggestion. "I'll go make some tea before I start telling my story. How is that?" He asked after a few moments of silence.

All three girls nodded in agreement and he was a bit relieved that he could figure out what to tell them, Quatre stood up and made his way to the kitchen.

* * *

Why would someone in their right mind ever want to throw knives at another person?

Why would someone who could even comprehend the words 'value your life' and 'perilous' ever stand against a big round wooden disk to have knives thrown at him by a girl who wasn't in her right mind to do so anyway?

Quatre had to wonder what kind of guy Trowa Barton was to actually _do_ the above. Was he very brave, or just very stupid?

He had never understood Catherine's fascination with throwing knives anyway. It was a dangerous hobby.

Although, as he saw the knives resting in their respectful boxes on the kitchen-table he couldn't help but lift one out of its box.

He had to do something while he waited for the water to boil anyway.

Quatre watched with slight interest as he toyed with the knife. It was actually quite interesting how it…

"What are you doing?"

In surprise, perhaps you could even call it shock, at hearing someone speak to him, Quatre looked up with a start.

But before he could look to the doorway to see who had spoken to him, he felt a sudden pain shoot through his hand.

After that a lot of things happened in just a split-second.

Quatre cried out softly at the pain he felt coursing through his hand. When he looked down at his hand and saw the knife laying on the ground, saw the blood gushing out of a long cut, he felt dizzy. He stumbled, reached out for the counter to steady himself and was met with… a warm body?

Quatre, shocked yet still unsteady, grabbed the arm that was around him. He was gasping for air as he tried to calm himself down and get himself to focus again.

He really couldn't stand blood.

"Are you all right?"

Warm breath ghosted past his ear and Quatre shuddered involuntary. He raised his head and saw none other than Trowa Barton look at him with concern.

"I- I'm…" Quatre started to stutter and then made a big mistake. He looked down at his hand and became quite unwell. "Oh my God…" He whispered.

While he whispered the words he felt the arm around his waist tighten a bit. He wondered why for only a second.

Because Trowa was pulling him towards one of the kitchen chairs.

All Quatre could do was blink as Trowa Barton pushed him down in the chair. What on Earth was happening?

Quatre noticed the boy looking at him worried every other second and he didn't know if he should feel grateful or annoyed. He was still a bit dizzy and now he was also afraid to look at his own hand. He wondered how this situation would end.

Meanwhile, Trowa had grabbed a kitchen-towel and tried to tie it around Quatre's hand.

When he didn't succeed in doing so after a few seconds he gave an impatient sigh. He looked at Quatre, who had a pale exterior. "Hold it with your left hand, all right? I'm going to get the first-aid-kit." He told Quatre, trying to sound reassuring. When he turned around to leave the kitchen, Quatre called out.

"Don't…" Quatre mumbled softly. Gods, he was embarrassed now! His paleness had disappeared and was now replaced with an annoying flush.

Trowa, who stood still in the doorway to observe the blond, frowned. "I didn't quite catch that."

"Could you not get Cathy?" Quatre asked, almost whispered.

To Quatre's surprise Trowa chuckled. Quatre, when he saw Trowa's face, had the fleeting thought that Trowa actually looked quite relaxed and content when he was smiling.

"I won't." Trowa promised. "She can be quite the hassle if she wants to be." Trowa looked at Quatre's hand and nodded. "Mind if I get that kit now? You might bleed to death otherwise."

Quatre, not dense at all but just afraid of blood and still not in his previous mood, paled again. "Bleed to death?" He whispered, quite foolishly he admitted afterwards.

Trowa's laughter rang through the kitchen as he walked away.

* * *

While Trowa was off to fetch the first-aid-kit, Quatre desperately tried to get a hold of reality again.

What on earth was going on? Who was that guy helping him and what did he do with Trowa Barton?

Quatre wondered if it would be cruel to hope the real Trowa Barton would be thrown down five stories to be lying face-down in the mud of the flower-bed that lay against the entire side of the building.

Well, that wasn't of much importance now anyway. Whatever Trowa was thinking right now wasn't of much importance either. What Quatre himself thought of the situation was of importance though.

Because it would help him to decide what he was going to do next. Right now, Quatre was utterly confused. It could be the blood-loss helping with that of course.

However, the fact remained Trowa was acting unlike his usual self and Quatre found that he actually rather liked this side of the boy.

'Odd,' he thought, 'yesterday I wanted to smash his head and now…' Quatre sighed. He wasn't really up for a lot of thinking.

It made his head hurt and a head-ache, or worse a migraine, was one of the last things he wanted to have right about now. He took a deep breath at the thought of all the blood, because of his bleeding hand and an almost alien-like Trowa Barton were enough problems to deal with.

Quatre looked up as he heard footsteps near the kitchen. He prayed it wasn't Catherine, and was oddly relieved when Trowa walked into the kitchen. Catherine would freak out for sure if she ever found out.

Trowa set the first-aid-kit, which was a screaming bright red little bag with a white cross on it, on the table and put a chair in front of Quatre.

"Let's have a look at your hand." He said as he lifted Quatre's hand quite gently.

Quatre turned his head away and closed his eyes. It was better not to look than make a fool out of himself by trying to be brave and then faint in the progress of it all.

"Don't worry, I've done this a million of times." Trowa told Quatre quietly. "I've had my share of cuts caused by those knives."

Quatre didn't reply. He just sat there with his eyes closed and waited until Trowa was finished with his hand.

In the end it wasn't all that bad. Trowa disinfected the wound and then he laid a gauze over it. To finish it he then bandaged the covered area, all the while holding Quatre's hand and being very gentle.

Quatre looked at his bandaged hand. "You said it wasn't that bad." He remarked dryly as he studied Trowa's handy-work.

"Just in case." Trowa answered with a shrug. "By the way, your water is cold."

Quatre looked up with a frown. "What?"

Trowa nodded towards the water-boiler. "The water is cold again."

Almost stupefied, Quatre looked at Trowa. After a second or two, he burst out laughing.

Trowa raised an eyebrow. "What do you find so amusing?"

Quatre looked at Trowa. He took a few breaths and chuckled. "Yesterday I wanted to kill you. A few minutes ago I thought of you lying in the mud. Look at us now! Happily chatting as if we are good friends…" Quatre trailed off.

He sighed and looked away. _'Now's your chance!'_ He could hear Duo's voice.

Now was Quatre's best chance to apologize to Trowa. They were together, alone and above all, he could thank Trowa for bandaging his hand and make the affair of yesterday seem like nothing.

Quatre, feeling somewhat nervous, looked around the kitchen. He couldn't just blurt out 'I'm sorry' and be done with it. He sighed.

For once in his life, perhaps he should do something he actually _didn't_ want to. Perhaps now he should listen to Duo, follow his advice, and simply thank Trowa for what he did for him.

"Hey Trowa." Quatre called out softly.

The brown-haired boy looked up with a frown. "Yes?"

"I-uh… I want to thank you." Quatre admitted softly. He looked Trowa in the eye and tried a small smile to make everything look a bit more… meant.

With the smile still on his lips, he raised his bandaged arm and continued. "For the arm, you know." He paused. "And for yesterday, too." He added softly and it sounded more like an afterthought than a note of appreciation.

But Trowa didn't seem to mind. He leant his head a bit to the right and smiled slightly. "It would've been exceptionally rude not to help out." Was all he said.

Quatre frowned. He was thanking a person who was doing all of this because he didn't want to come across as rude? 'What have I done?' Quatre thought.

"But you know, because I helped you out twice already, you owe me." Trowa said with a smirk as he leaned against the counter.

Quatre was quite shocked to hear this. 'Shit.'

He hadn't anticipated this would happen, but Trowa was right. For the second time he had helped Quatre out and even though Quatre had thanked the other boy, he still owed him.

"Sure, just let me know when I can help you out with something." Quatre said. He wasn't happy with this at all. But what else could he do? He couldn't laugh this away as another lame thing Trowa said. Owing someone was a serious thing. Owing someone meant you had to pay back the debt you had with someone, one way or another.

"Well, you could tell me all about the conflict Heero." Trowa suggested. He sounded quite proud of himself that he had thought of this as a way for Quatre to pay him back.

But Quatre shook his head. "We're acting quite civilized towards each other now, don't you agree?" He asked the other boy, very serious.

"Yes."

"Don't you want to keep it that way?"

"Uh, sure." Trowa was frowning. Was Quatre going anywhere or was he just avoiding the question?

Trowa didn't know that was exactly Quatre's thought but with a different motivation.

"Well, then don't ask me about Heero." Quatre stated, as if it were the most simply and obvious thing in the world. He looked somewhat grim and his entire posture was tense.

"But…" Trowa started to protest.

"I might owe you something, but that doesn't mean I will do anything just because you ask me to do. Just because we had a sort of conversation when you bandaged my hand, doesn't make us friends." Quatre explained the other boy calmly.

Trowa snorted, grabbed the first-aid-kit from the kitchen-table and left the room.

Quatre sighed and looked at his bandaged hand again. Why was he the one that always got in situations like this? Why was Trowa trying to suck up his ass one minute and trying to pry in Quatre's private business the next?

Trowa Barton was such an asshole.

**TBC.**


End file.
